Overtime must be accurately added in all matches – FIFA Chief Referee

World football’s governing body instructed officials at the last World Cup in Qatar to calculate added time more accurately, including time lost celebrating goals.

This led to an average of 10 minutes and 11 seconds extra time being played at the 2022 finals, compared to 6 minutes and 30 seconds at the 2018 finals in Russia.

The big screen shows 14 extra minutes at the end of the first half of England’s World Cup opener against Iran last November (Martin Rickett/PA).

Actual playing time in Qatar was 59 minutes and 47 seconds, compared to 55 minutes and 41 seconds in Russia.

The guidelines for referees in Qatar must now be followed by all competitions worldwide from July 1 after a decision was made at last Saturday’s annual general meeting of the International Football Association Board, football’s legislative body.

Collina said it was “understandable” why just three minutes of stoppage time were added in the second half of Liverpool’s 7-0 Premier League win over Manchester United last Sunday.

However, the Italian said that in any competition where goal difference counts, it is important to add injury time accurately, unless the rules of the game are changed to allow for short games where a team wins by a large margin, to interrupt automatically.

When asked what extra time was played at Anfield and how it should have been, Collina said: “It was one (minute in the first half) plus three (in the second half). Consider that six goals were scored in the second half.

“I can understand that it is difficult to understand in the actual game to show the relevant time or the additional time at 7-0.

“But when the competition regulations dictate that goal difference is relevant for the ranking at the end (of the season), just one goal scored or not scored can make all the difference.

“When I played baseball, there was a rule that after the sixth inning, if there was a difference in score of more than six, the game was over.

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“Perhaps in the future we can consider, as part of the Laws of the Game, to say that if there is a difference of ‘X’ goals between the teams, no extra time has to be granted at the end of the game. But that would be (changes to) the rules of the game.

“Spain vs Costa Rica at the World Cup, Spain scored a goal in added time. That goal could have cost Spain or Costa Rica qualification for the next round.

“But I understand adding overtime at a 7-0 score would be seen as something not really understandable.”

Pierluigi Collina said the changes in Qatar’s extra time were well received (Aaron Chown/PA).

Collina showed that the World Cup average wasn’t too far above what other competitions worldwide were adding even before the new prognosis came.

He stressed that four of the 10 Premier League games played last weekend had 10 minutes or more added time added to them. He also noted that the average overtime time at the World Cup decreased over the course of the tournament – from 11 minutes and 6 seconds in the group stage to 10 minutes and 15 seconds in the semi-finals and final, and even further down to 7 minutes and 15 seconds in the last 16

Collina said: “The players understood that wasting time is no longer an advantage as all the time they wasted is usually compensated at the end of the game.

“When players realized there was no benefit in wasting time, they basically stopped wasting time.”

FIFA provided a sample of extra time played in competitions around the world leading up to the World Cup, which highlighted the Premier League average was eight minutes and six seconds, falling to seven minutes and seven seconds in Scotland’s cinch Premiership.

He said the feedback on the new approach has been overwhelmingly positive.

However, a FIFPRO report released earlier Thursday said the new guidelines could result in players with existing heavy workloads playing the equivalent of three extra games per season and that this should be taken into account in discussions about game scheduling.

World Players’ Union secretary-general Jonas Baer-Hoffmann said his organization was “surprised” by the guidelines.

But Collina insisted FIFPRO was consulted through the IFAB advisory bodies on efforts to increase effective playing time, with information also shared with the 32 teams competing in Qatar at a workshop in Doha last April.

He said a proposal to introduce a stopwatch was abandoned at these advisory bodies, with the focus shifting to more accurate calculation of breaks within the existing rules of the game.

Collina also urged the referees to be “more proactive” and shorten the length of small interruptions where time is not counted down, such as: B. Throw-ins, free-kicks and corner kicks.