Pierluigi Collina, head of the organisation’s refereeing committee, said that if fans want to see purer playing time, they need to be prepared for long matches.
Photo: Pierluigi Collina (global press)
A large number of minutes added during the first matches of the World Cup is due to FIFA’s desire to more carefully calculate the time of stops during matches. This was stated by the president of the Fifa arbitration committee, Pierluigi Collina, whose words leads Football Italy.
“Already at the World Cup in Russia, we began to carefully calculate how many minutes should be compensated. We told people not to be surprised when the backup umpire raises the board with a six, a seven, even an eight (minutes added. —RBC SportsHill said.
According to him, if fans want to see more net playing time then they need to be ready for it. “We want to calculate everything more carefully. In this regard, we have achieved success in Russia and we are counting on it in Qatar,” added the Italian.
The opening matches of the world championship became notable, among other things, for the fact that the referees added a lot of time to the first and second half of the matches. So, the teams of England and Iran (6:2) conduit the longest match in tournament history.
Due to Iranian goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand’s injury early in the match, extended medical treatment and subsequent substitution, head referee Rafael Klaus added 14 minutes to the first half, and then another 10 minutes to the second half.
