Eredivisie’s Go Ahead Eagles make eight legal substitutions in record-breaking football first

Go Ahead Eagles made an unprecedented eight substitutions in the KNVB Beker Dutch cup, and all of them were legal.

The Europa League outfit beat second tier Roda JC 2-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in normal time to make the last 16 of the competition that they won last year.

During the tie only three players stayed on the bench in some intriguing scenes.

All major European competitions now implement five substitutions during the 90 minutes, but only three breaks to do so.

Go Ahead Eagles coach Melvin Boel used all three, with a two breaks used for a pair of swaps, and another for a single.

However, during the game they also suffered a head injury, with new concussion rules allowing a sub for such a situation.

An extra change is permitted for extra time, upping the total to seven.

Then Roda JC also suffered a head injury, allowing Go Ahead Eagles to make another switch of their own for eight.

During all this, Roda made just four changes in their shoot-out defeat.