Qatar World Cup 2022 EXPLAINED: Why is so much injury time being added every game?
By Ayush Gupta | First Published Nov 22, 2022, 1:26 PM ISTFIFA World Cup 2022: This WC in Qatar is witnessing something unusual, i.e. too much injury time being added. Is it because of time wasting or too many injuries? Here, we explain it.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar has already seen its share of controversies in a couple of days since it began on Sunday. However, one of the elements that have distinguished this edition is the injury time, which is quite substantial compared to the usual ones. Almost every game witnesses as much as nine to 14 minutes being added on as injury or stoppage time, making fans wonder what could be the reason behind it. Is it time-wasting, injuries, or drinks break? Game 2 between England and Iran on Monday saw 24 minutes added to the match. On the same note, we explain why so much time is added.
Former FIFA-accredited international referee, Pierluigi Collina of Italy, is a member of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) and oversees the game’s laws, besides being the FIFA referees committee chairman. He spoke to ESPN before the tournament and articulated, “What we already did in Russia [2018] was to calculate the time to be compensated more accurately. We told everybody not to be surprised if they see the fourth official raising the electronic board with a big number, six, seven or eight minutes on it.”
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“If you want more active time, we need to be ready to see this additional time given. Think of a match with three goals scored. A celebration normally takes one, or one and a half minutes, so with three goals scored, you lose five or six minutes. We want to 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, and we expect the same in Qatar,” added Collina.
Earlier this year, Collina talked to Italian media outlet Calciatori Brutti and enunciated, “As a spectator, I pay a ticket, physically at the stadium, or at home by TV, to see 90 minutes of football, but I only see 44, 45, 46 played. Half the price of my ticket goes into unplayed time. Most of the wasted time comes with throw-ins or goal kicks.”
“These things are functional to the game, but eight to nine minutes for throw-ins, eight to nine minutes for goal-kicks? So, we are doing some thinking. If we’re a bit more precise, we’ll have to prepare ourselves for a nine-minute injury time. Today, nine minutes is eye-popping, but give those who want to see a spectacle the chance to see a bit more,” concluded Collina.
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