The International Football Association Board (IFAB) held its annual meeting in London on March 4. FIFA President Gianni Infantino, speaking at the meeting, called for more accurate calculations of stoppage times in football competitions around the world. He said 100-minute matches could become commonplace as the 2022 FIFA World Cup, where 10 minutes of stoppage time was commonplace, showed the correctness of such a move.
“All the participants of the championship in Qatar, the supporters in the stadiums and the television viewers greatly appreciated this innovation. We want to fight against time wasting, we want the fans to enjoy the game. We need to ensure universal application of the laws of the game. We will be monitoring leagues around the world to make sure time outs are correct,” Infantino said at a press conference after the IFAB meeting. Discussions on increasing the playing time of the ball have been a priority at the IFAB’s annual football rules meeting, he said.
According to Reuters, statistics provided by one of the leading companies in the field showed that in 2021, in English Premier League games, the “actual playing time” was less than 60 minutes. In contrast, the France v Australia game in the World Cup group stage lasted 67 minutes of playing time.
As well as discussing the final playing time of matches, the IFAB has also confirmed the extension of the study into the need to broadcast VAR decisions to fans in stadiums and on television.
A trial of this innovation took place during the FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco in February 2023. It will continue during the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia from May to June 2023. After having reviewed the experience gained, the IFAB and FIFA will decide whether this practice of broadcasting VAR decisions will be continued in other FIFA tournaments in 2023.
The IFAB is an international organization that administers and regulates the rules of the game of football. The council is represented by the founding fathers of football, the football associations of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and FIFA. On the council, each British football association has one vote, while FIFA has 4 votes. Decisions of the IFAB must be approved by a three-fourths vote; this means that a minimum of six votes is required for a decision to be made. Thus, 2 FIFA votes are needed to pass an IFAB decision, but FIFA itself cannot change the rules of the game; they must be endorsed by at least two members of any UK association.
Sergei Alekseev
Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 0 of November 30 -0001
Newspaper headline: 100-minute games could become commonplace
