Premier League introduces six major rule changes for 2024/25 season that every fan must know before it starts

The return of the Premier League is upon us, with the action getting back under way on Friday as Manchester United host Fulham at Old Trafford.

Spurs vs Leicester City will round up the gameweek on Monday in what promises to be an exciting weekend of top flight football.

But as is the case every year, there have been a number of changes implemented across the board in different departments by the Premier League.

And ahead of the Premier League finally resuming, here are all six notable ways rules have been refined.

Five subs instead of three

Previously, a maximum of three substitutes per team were allowed to warm up at the same time.

But that has now been increased to five. Explaining the alteration, the Premier League said: “This is to correspond with the fact that teams are able to make five substitutions at any one time.”

Image: Getty

Multiball system in full flow

In a bid to keep the game flowing and the ball back in play, 15 balls are to be placed on cones.

While that's not new, a key change is that ball assistants behind the net will now be allowed to return a ball to the goalkeeper and not just place it on a cone.

Added time adjustment

Last season saw some crazy amounts of stoppage time in the Premier League following on from the same approach at the Qatar World Cup.

It will be different this time around though. When a goal goes in, time will be added on if there is more than 30 seconds between the goal and the restart.

Earlier team news

Fans wanting to know how their team are going to line up for a crunch clash will get that information 75 minutes before kick-off, as opposed to 60 minutes (one hour).

It could have a particularly big impact on FPL aficionados selecting their side.

Semi-automated offsides

Offsides are getting a radical overhaul, following the same system as we saw in the Euros.

Though it may not come until after the first international break, Computer vision cameras will be installed in every Premier League stadium, with state of the art technology tracking the ball and data points for players.

If a player receives a ball in an offside position, the technology will send an alert to the officials in the VAR Hub.

“They will check that the point of contact with the ball and automated offside line have been correctly recorded," the Premier League stated.

"The VAR will then inform the on-field officials if an offside has been recorded."

The league are hopeful that offside calls will be decided 30 seconds quicker than before on average.

Image: Getty

New Premier League page

Another new tweak sees a brand new account on X, focusing on instantly explaining referee decisions and VAR interventions in real-time during every single game.

The account is called @PLMatchCentre and has over 200,000 followers.