Liga Portugal modifies rules to prevent games with less than 13 players – O Jornal Económico
This Friday, December 3rd, the Liga Portugal (LPFP) changed the regulations for football matches so that no match is played with less than 13 players registered, and thus avoid a repetition of the scenario of the last weekend between the B-Sad and SL Benfica.
The decision was taken after a meeting that took place this morning between the body responsible for managing the main levels of Portuguese football, the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), as representative structures of players, influencers, coaches, doctors and district associations and regional.
After the meeting, it was decided that the Executive Committee of Liga Portugal “should immediately create the applicable legal provisions so that no football game starts in any competition with a number of less than 13 athletes, including a goalkeeper”, reads – if not communicated issued by the LPFP.
“All the institutions gathered together today will work together so that this goal is achieved and that what unfortunately happened last Saturday at the National Stadium will never be seen again,” says the LPFP in a statement, recalling the situation that took place last Saturday between B-SAD and SL Benfica.
The home team entered the field with only nine players, in a match that would end prematurely, 48 minutes into the second half, with the victory of the ‘Eagles’ by seven balls to zero, due to non-compliance with the minimum number of athletes required for the continuation of the encounter – seven players.
After what happened, there were several national and international critics of the way the meeting took place. B-SAD presented a game with nine players, justifying itself for having the majority of the squad infected with Covid-19.