LONDON – Football matches spanning 100 minutes could become commonplace, with Fifa president Gianni Infantino calling for more accurate calculations regarding added time to be implemented in competitions around the world.
Speaking at the International Football Association Board (Ifab) annual meeting in London on Saturday, he said that the 2022 Qatar World Cup where 10 minutes of stoppage time became a normal occurrence had shown the way.
“It has been widely appreciated by everyone. We want to fight against time-wasting, we want the fans to enjoy the game,” Infantino told an Ifab news conference.
“We have to ensure that also the application of the laws of the game are universal. We will monitor leagues all over the world to ensure proper stoppage time is played.”
Raising the amount of time the ball is in play has become a priority for football’s rules body Ifab.
Statistics supplied by Opta in 2021 showed that English Premier League matches were seeing “actual playing time” of well under 60 minutes.
Delegates at the meeting included English Football Association (FA) chief Mark Bullingham, whose organisation clashed with Fifa at the World Cup over the English team’s wish to support the One Love campaign and the wearing of a rainbow armband.
England captain Harry Kane had intended to wear the armband but the FA backed down over Fifa’s threats that he could be disciplined if he did.
The issue was again discussed on Saturday, with Bullingham saying he was confident the situation could be resolved before the Women’s World Cup in July.
Ifab also confirmed the extension of a trial to broadcast VAR (video assistant referee) decisions to fans inside stadiums and on television.
The trial was introduced at the Club World Cup in Morocco in 2022 and will continue at the Under-20 World Cup in Indonesia in May-June 2023.
VAR decisions often take several minutes to be decided, leaving players and fans in limbo and unsure of exactly what methodology is being applied by officials, as they do not see or hear any of the review process.
A decision will then be made whether the trial will be continued at other Fifa tournaments later in 2023. REUTERS, AFP
