The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar has been an unusual one for many reasons – mostly controversial – and the amount of added time has emerged as another huge talking point.
The opening game between Qatar and Ecuador saw five minutes added to the first half, and another five minutes added at the end of the second half.
In regards to England’s 6-2 win over Iran, we saw an additional 27 minutes of time added on by the officials.
Of course, there was a serious injury to Alireza Beiranvand which halted the game momentarily, although even in today’s fixtures, including Denmark’s 0-0 draw against Tunisia, there has been plenty of time added on.
Why is that? Let’s take a look…
Why is there so much added time in the World Cup?
Well, the average game of football only sees the ball in play for about an hour, something FIFA seem pretty fed up about.
As a result, FIFA have instructed officials to monitor stoppages more carefully, stopping their watches when incidents such as injuries, VAR decisions, substitutions, penalties and red cards occur, as well as the usual playacting from some players.
The iconic Pierluigi Collina – Chairman of FIFA’s referees committee – told reporters ahead of the World Cup that the approach was also being taken at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
As quoted by the BBC, the 62-year-old said: “In Russia, we tried to be more accurate in compensating for time lost during games and that’s why you saw six, seven or even eight minutes added on. Think about it: if you have three goals in a half, you’ll probably lose four or five minutes in total to celebrations and the restart.”
Extra World Cup time is shattering records
FIFA’s approach has seen a number of records broken in Qatar.
Mehdi Taremi’s penalty against England – scored in the 103rd minute – is now the latest World Cup goal in history, while Davy Klaassen’s strike for the Netherlands in their 2-0 win over Senegal is the second latest, scored after 98 minutes and 17 seconds.
In our view, this is great to see.
Players have been getting away with spoiling the game while in the lead for too long, and FIFA’s decision to clamp down on it should hopefully lead to more thrilling spectacles at the World Cup.
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