Why Young Players Like Gio Reyna Could Benefit From Bundesliga Schedule

U.S. soccer fans watching the Bundesliga last weekend couldn’t hide their delight when 17-year-old Gio Reyna was named in Borussia Dortmund’s starting line-up for their match against Schalke. It would have been Reyna’s first start for Borussia Dortmund, but unfortunately he picked up an injury in the warm-up and was replaced at the last minute by Thorgan Hazard.

Plenty of young players like Gio Reyna will get their opportunity in the Bundesliga this season. The unique circumstances that COVID-19 has created mean that the league will be played in a shorter period of time than normal, and will include several double gameweeks, or Englische woche as the Germans call them.

The need for rotation, increased fatigue, and extra substitutions that are a feature of the Bundesliga’s final nine matchweeks mean that the best players won’t always be on the pitch, and the larger teams with more squad depth could have an unfair advantage. But it also means that young players on the fringe of their teams could get more game time.

One such player is 21-year-old former Everton academy talent Antony Evans, who got his first few minutes for Paderborn last weekend when he replaced Christopher Antwi-Adjei in the 88th minute of Paderborn’s goalless draw with Fortuna Dussledorf. Evans followed fellow Old-Evertonians Jonjoe Kenny (Schalke) and Adebola Lookman (RB Leipzig) by making the move to Germany to develop his career. He joined Paderborn in the winter after loan spells at Blackpool and Morecambe in England’s lower leagues.

Hoffenheim youth product Ilay Elmkies also made his debut at the weekend, coming on in the final minute of Hoffenheim’s three-nil defeat to Hertha Berlin. Both Evans and Elmkies would likely have not played at the weekend if the rules on the number of substitutes had not been changed.

Soccer’s rule-makers, the International Football Association Board introduced this amendment to the rules earlier this month, saying it can be applied to any competition that ends before the end of December 2020. The amendment was made due to many games being played in a condensed period, and in tougher weather than the regular season. Teams are allowed to make five substitutions, but only have three opportunities (plus during the half time break) to make them so that the new rule can’t be abused by teams trying to waste time. As a result, lots of substitutions happened in pairs, with a few teams such as Hertha Berlin trying a Mourinho-esque triple substitution.

Evans was Paderborn’s fifth change, Elmkies was Hoffenheim’s fourth. They might have only had a few minutes on the pitch, but if last weekend is anything to go by, substitutes in the Bundesliga will get more minutes than they would under normal circumstances.

Twenty clubs in Germany’s top two leagues used all five substitutes on the opening weekend. Another eleven teams made four changes, and only Wolfsburg, Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig made three changes (ironically, many people expect bigger teams like Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig to benefit from using more substitutes due to their squad depth).

Needless to say, the substitutes who came on fourth and fifth for their team got more minutes than they would have if only three substitutes were allowed. But if we compare last weekend to the final weekend of Bundesliga action before the season was suspended in March, then it seems that all the substitutes got relatively more game time.

Last weekend, the average first substitution happened on 58 minutes, compared to 61 minutes back in March. The second change happened on 70 minutes compared to 72 minutes, and the third on 77 minutes rather than 83 minutes. The larger difference between the times of the third change could be because there is no need to save a third substitute in case of injury when you have a fourth and fifth one if necessary.

As well as these extra minutes, fringe players are likely to get more game time in those double gameweeks that are required so that the Bundesliga can finish before the end of June. If they can impress then they could get themselves higher up the pecking order for next season.

The current crisis is tough for everyone, but for some players on the edge of Bundesliga squads, this crisis is an opportunity.