The IFAB (International Football Association Board) in charge of making changes to the football regulations, announced a plan to increase effective playing time in all matches.
The president of the association, Pierluigi Collina was critical of the time that is lost in current football and took the Champions League as a reference. The highest club competition has an average of 58 minutes of effective playthat is, during 32 minutes the ball is not in dispute and the footballers in that period are letting the clock run.
“I don’t think anyone wants to pay to watch a game that lasts only 58 minutes.”, he added.
Read more: World Cup 2030: Ukraine under investigation and Morocco can join Spain and Portugal
NEW COACH FOR PSG? ⚽😍🇫🇷#CentralFOX | Elimination from the Champions League could bring with it a new player and that would be a Real Madrid legend.https://t.co/1Ae3RThpr2
— FOX Sports MX (@FOXSportsMX) March 10, 2023
The five key points
According to the IFAB, there are five areas of opportunity to improve the use of the clock: substitutions, player injuries, penalties, red cards, VAR and goal celebrations. Instead of taking that time as an estimate, the exact time the ball was stationary must be calculatedthat is, if 20 minutes were lost, the same amount of time must be added.
“We have seen that VAR implementation reduced foul simulations and players now know it’s not worth trying. I am convinced that the loss of time will be reduced when the players see that there is no point in running out the clockbecause that time will be compensated”, commented the Italian.
It may interest you: CR7 style tantrum! Cristiano Ronaldo lost for the first time with Al-Nassr and exploded at the end (VIDEO)
What happens when there are wins?
Collina points out that in the current regulation there is nothing that prevents adding the exact time that was lostdespite the fact that the score indicates a 7-0 as happened in Liverpool vs Manchester United.
“Maybe andIn the future we have a rule stating that if the difference between the two teams is very large, the additional time will not be addedbut it must be in the rules of the game”, pointed out the head of the IFAB.
For Collina the dilemma is in the competition formats, where the goal difference is important.
“If the regulation says that the goal difference can modify the classification at the end of the season, a goal scored or missed can make the difference,” he concluded.
