UEFA Report - Football Extending Its Duration

The saying "better is the enemy of good" is supported in many fields of activity, except when it comes to sports performance. When "better" refers to regulations, the situation changes, and the first ones to complain are often the performers. According to a UEFA report, the percentage of football matches lasting 100 minutes or more in the top 20 European leagues has more than doubled in the early stages of the new season compared to the previous one. Referees in national football leagues are following a new directive to carefully calculate time lost due to game stoppages, such as goal celebrations or substitutions. The UEFA report on European club talents and the competitive landscape concluded that the percentage of matches lasting 100 minutes or more in the first two rounds of national championships has increased by over 43%, compared to 20% for the entire previous season. The new refereeing directive was first adopted by FIFA at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and the body that governs the laws of the game, the International Football Association Board, stated in March that leagues worldwide should adopt the same approach.UEFA's Director of Football, Zvonimir Boban, recently described the new directive as "absurd" and stated that it will not be implemented in this season's UEFA Champions League. This opinion follows concerns expressed by footballers and football player unions. Maheta Molango, the CEO of the Professional Footballers' Association, warned last month that football is "sleepwalking towards a disaster" in terms of players' well-being, given this directive and the continuously expanding match schedule. The new UEFA report identified that 139 matches in the first two rounds of the new season lasted at least 100 minutes, compared to 83 in the first two rounds of the previous season, resulting in an average match duration of 100.2 minutes, up from 97.7 minutes in the previous season. Only one of Europe's top 20 leagues, the Super Lig in Turkey, had matches with an average duration exceeding 100 minutes last season, while the Premier League averaged 98.5 minutes in the 2022-23 season.

Pierluigi Collina, the head referee at FIFA and an Italian, praised the competitions that have implemented the new directive, stating last month: "These recommendations do not affect the welfare of players, they only compensate for time lost. I am sure that most football stakeholders agree with this. The reactions we had at the 2022 World Cup and the 2023 Women's World Cup, from both teams and spectators, were very positive." Collina indicated that in the knockout stages of European cup competitions last season, the additional time granted by referees averaged 10 minutes in the Champions League, 9 minutes and 12 seconds in the Europa League, and 10 minutes and 8 seconds in the Europa Conference League.