England manager Thomas Tuchel has called up Trevoh Chalobah to replace the injured Tino Livramento.
Livramento was forced to withdraw from England’s World Cup squad on Monday due to a hamstring injury.
Instead of another full-back, Tuchel has selected experienced Chelsea centre-back Chalobah to join the squad.
While it is a shame for Livramento, England have been extremely fortunate with the timing of his hamstring injury.
Here are FIFA’s rules on replacing injured players at the World Cup, with England almost missing a key deadline.
Who should replace Livramento in the England squad?
Hall? Alexander-Arnold? Or someone else?
Why England were allowed to replace Tino Livramento with Trevoh Chalobah
All 48 nations at the 2026 World Cup were required to name their 26-man squads for the tournament no later than 1 June.
After FIFA confirmed the squads on 2 June, teams are only allowed to make changes for two reasons.
If an outfield player sustains an injury or illness, they can be replaced in the squad up to 24 hours before the team’s first match.
England’s opening game against Croatia is on Wednesday evening, meaning they had until Tuesday evening to make changes.
Therefore, if Livramento had suffered his injury later this week, England would not have been allowed to replace him.
It also means that Tuchel cannot replace any other outfield players in the squad throughout the remainder of the World Cup.
The only exception is if one of Jordan Pickford, Dean Henderson, or James Trafford suffer an injury this summer.
Every team must have at least three goalkeepers in the squad, allowing them to be replaced at any stage of the tournament.
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