20 Oct 2022

Botswana Football Association (BFA) chief executive officer, Mfolo Mfolo, has advised the media to be abreast with new football laws.

Speaking at a media briefing this week, Mfolo said the main objective of engaging the media was to bring them up to speed with the new amendments as it was important for them to be in the loop when the season started.

Mfolo said the media was an important stakeholder, therefore it was critical for them to be updated with laws of the game, adding the expectations were that they would then cascade them to the football community.

“The whole idea is for you to educate all stakeholders about the laws of the game,” he said, adding t there were two difficult things in the field of play, the first one being that everyone in the stand was a coach, and that everybody would have a say in any decision that the referee took.

Referee’s manager, Jonty Rasetsoga, said it was imperative for the media to be accustomed to the laws.

“It is also important to understand tactical fouls and challenges because they are the key components of the match, so we have to understand as well in the eyes of a football person,” he said.

Rasetsoga said there were now changes in law three which deals with additional substitutes for top competitions.

He said during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of substitutes was increased to five as a temporary measure, but now it was included in the law. “It is now permanent for as long as next review is done, so we are now allowed a maximum of five subs,” he said.

He said five players could be substituted and each team had a maximum of three substitution opportunities and they might additionally make substitutions at half-time. ENDS