After yet another summer in which corruption scandals made the headlines almost every day – the worse off being Juventus coach Antonio Conte who has been banned for 10 months for his part when he was Siena manager a couple of seasons ago – the Italian Serie A season kicks off tonight.

Champions Juventus have strengthened the squad with which they won the league last May and start off as favourites. Inter have also improved their team with a few insertions whereas Milan have simply dismantled their squad with the departure of veteran players whose contract came to an end and the selling of stars Thiago Silva and Imbrahimovic to Paris St Germain. Lazio, Roma, Napoli, Udinese and Fiorentina have their chances of making it into the top three.

But the biggest novelty this season is the fact that all teams now will be allowed to take 12 substitutes on the bench – very much like what happens in the World Cup and Euro championships. Instead of a squad of 18 – 11 in the starting line-up and seven substitutes – clubs will have up to 23 men in the official list they give to the referee before each start of the match.

Having so many substitutes has its pros and cons. The good part is that coaches will no longer have to make tough decisions on which players to leave out from the squad; this will increase motivation among their players. It will also cut down on instances when players are left out or disregarded by the coach.

Secondly, it gives them a wider choice of tactic-changing replacements. It also strengthens their squad during the course of a game. They could even have two goalkeepers on the bench, and with red cards issued for fouls on the last man of the opposition, they may come in handy. Having many substitutes will also mean that the younger players – those who normally fill in when the senior ones are injured and suspended – will get more opportunities to join the main squad.

The negative side to this is that the gap between the strongest and the weakest is set to increase. This is because the richer clubs, which are almost always the strongest, have a deeper squad on which to rely, whereas the poorer teams, which are almost always the weakest, usually do not have so many players. Clubs might also feel the need to increase the number of players in their squad, and this will inevitably raise their costs at a time when many others are in dire financial constraints.

We have to wait and see how the season evolves in order to be able to pass better judgment on this new rule.

One other innovation is the introduction of line judges to assist the referee with difficult decisions. Let’s hope incidents such as the one in last season’s Milan-Juventus fixture will be avoided from now on.