Squad rotation system

A squad rotation system is a technique often used in sport, usually association football, which is designed to rest players and give playing time to everyone, rather than to just play the same players in every game. Most football (soccer) teams incorporate it in some capacity, although some managers like to build their team around it, with a squad of about twenty regular first-team players.

Advantages of a squad rotation system are that it gives everyone in it a rest, meaning that fatigue and injury is less likely. A system is also 'fairer', as more players get played than if there was a first-team line-up set in stone. Dis-advantages of the system include that the constant changing of players makes it harder for the team to gel together, and that the system can be hard to run fairly if one player does particularly well, making it therefore difficult to rotate them.

A famous example of a squad rotation system is the modern day setup at Chelsea F.C., where there is a large squad which rotates most of its players heavily, due to the quality and depth of their playing squad.

The term can also be used metaphorically to describe bands of musicians who have a changing lineup at different shows, such as the band The Fall as of 2007, and the ProjeKcts of the band King Crimson.