England boss Sven Goran Eriksson has been blamed for the rule change after he replaced all 11 players in last year’s 3-1 defeat against Australia at Upton Park and was greeted with horror by FIFA.
And their knee-jerk reaction to limit replacements will kick in when pre-season fixtures start this weekend.
An FA spokesman confirmed: “That’s the case. It was decided at an international FIFA board meeting, although we were against it. We didn’t believe there had been enough consultation.
” Peterborough boss Barry Fry discovered the change of rule by accident when he spoke to a referee. Fry said: “It’s crazy. We use these pre-season friendlies to try out different things and different people.”
And Coventry manager Peter Reid added: “Normally you just discuss how many subs you want with the referee before the match. “I’m due to have a meeting soon about rule changes so I suppose I’d have found out then. “But there’s no way I would want too many of my players to play 90 minutes at this stage of the summer. “We’re trying to get them ready for the new season, not kill them.”