The reason behind the excessive amount of added time so far in the World Cup has been explained.
You may have noticed when watching the World Cup so far that the added time provided by the officials has been fairly excessive. During the England game, for example, ten minutes were added on at the end of the game, despite a lack of noticeable delays throughout.
Now, the reason behind the vast amount of added time has been explained, and it could be a useful addition to football once fans get used to the extended games.
“We told everybody to not be surprised if they see the fourth official raising the electronic board with a big number on it, six, seven or eight minutes. If you want more active time, we need to be ready to see this kind of additional time given.
Think of a match with three goals scored. A celebration normally takes one, one and a half minutes, so with three goals scored, you lose five or six minutes. What we want to do is accurately calculate the added time at the end of each half. It can be the fourth official to do that, we were successful in Russia [2018] and we expect the same in Qatar. I am not talking about VAR intervention, this is something which is different and calculated by the Video Assistant Referee in a very precise way,” said Pierluigi Collina, the chairman of FIFA’s referee’s committee, speaking to ESPN.
Despite it being slightly confusing for football fans and nervy for supporters who are waiting for the whistle with their team only a goal ahead, maximising the time the ball is in play can only be a positive for the game.
With little coverage of the additional time being reported during games, fans watching were a little confused when the fourth official lifted their electronic board.
Hopefully, the new guidelines will limit the amount of time-wasting we see at the World Cup.