IOC to expand Olympic soccer rosters with 4 extras spots due to pandemic: report
Olympic squads are normally limited to 18 players, including 4 alternates
Olympic soccer rosters will be expanded from 18 players to 22 for the Tokyo Olympics, a person with knowledge of the change told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Teams can include 22 players on squads, but must stay with 18 on team sheets for individual matches, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the change had not been formally announced by the International Olympic Committee.
The change was considered because of the challenges teams faced as a result of the pandemic.
Wednesday was the deadline for countries competing in the Olympic soccer tournament to finalize their rosters.
U.S. women's national team coach Vlatko Andonovski said he anticipated some kind of change to the roster rules.
"We're getting word from the IOC that we will have a little flexibility on the roster. We're very happy about it, and as of right now we're just waiting to see a little more details on what all the rules and regulations are going to look like," Andonovski said.
"Obviously we thought about about it, we were preparing in some ways for it if it happened, so we're hoping to be ready if the changes are in place," Andonovski said.
