FIFA president Gianni Infantino says leagues will be monitored to ensure they’re adding on time correctly next season.
The Times report that FIFA president Gianni Infantino has stated that leagues will be monitored next season to make sure they’re following the laws of the game with regards to adding on time for celebrations, injuries, time-wasting, and substitutes.
This is an attempt to bring the Premier League and other top leagues in line with FIFA’s method of applying extra time at the winter World Cup.
According to Infantino, the ball was in play for around 60 minutes per match at the World Cup, compared to 55 minutes in the Premier League this season.
Arsenal fans will likely be glad to hear that at least some kind of action is being taken to crack down on timewasting.
As is somewhat inevitable for the team leading the Premier League, Arsenal are suffering with opposition teams wasting time, faking injuries, and employing protracted substitution breaks on a weekly basis.
Even Manchester City turned up to the Emirates Stadium determined to waste time, with Ederson receiving a yellow card for it in the first half.
Although the ideal solution is a stop-clock, completely eliminating the ability to “waste” time in a football match, there still doesn’t seem to be much momentum behind the idea.
“We will monitor leagues all over the world. But we are not changing the laws of the game, and there will be no stoppage clock,” Infantino said.
In lieu of that kind of change to the time-keeping system, it would be nice to at least see the World Cup system in action on a weekly basis.
The chief executives of the four British football associations have also backed the proposals to enforce a consistent minimum level of additional time for games across all competitions.
The associations are keen to ensure consistency in matches, especially as some competitions can be decided on goals scored in extra time.