International Board to discuss stopped stoppage in football – 03/03/2023 – Sport

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar produced some of the longest matches in the tournament’s history after FIFA instructed the four referees to keep track of time lost in each duel so that the head referee could make up with stoppage time.

Originally, extended stoppages were for player injuries only, but in recent years, added time has taken into account multiple substitutions, video referee checks and extended celebrations.

As a result, the games in the first round of the group stage of the last World Cup had an average of 11 minutes and eight seconds of compensation, with four minutes in the first stage and seven in the second.

Although this additional time has slowly fallen as the World Cup progresses, the numbers recorded have led the IFAB (International Football Association Board), the body that regulates football, to discuss suggestions to improve the dynamics of the games, especially the time with the ball rolling, during its general meeting this Saturday (4th), in the United Kingdom.

One of the possibilities discussed is the idea of ​​stopping the clock whenever the ball is not in play, that is, during a foul, offside, goal kicks, corners and goals. In this case, the total time of a game with just rolling ball would be 60 minutes, with two halves of 30 minutes.

The debate over the duration of matches was opened recently by FIFA president Gianni Infantino to put an end to what he considers “a scourge” in the sport, in reference to set pieces.

The proposal divides opinion. Paulo Vinicius Coelho, columnist for Sheet, is part of the team that is against the idea. “Stopping the timer is an assault on the spirit of the game,” says PVC.

“Of course, the ball has to travel more and this is the referee’s mission. Every recent regulation change is intended to make life easier for someone who has chosen a difficult profession, refereeing football. Now, if the player delays the game, card yellow. If you are late again, red”, he adds.

Among those who are in favor are some market specialists, who have a more marketing view of football. For Bruno Maia, a specialist in innovation and new sports technologies, changes in content consumption habits, especially among the under-30s, are also behind the idea of ​​reducing the time of matches.

“The dissolution of the interest of the youngest seems evident. Time is passing and the younger generations are not waiting for football to solve this problem”, says Maia.

The measures that are adopted after this Saturday’s meeting, however, will not be immediate, but can be seen in tests from 2024.

Change in the offside rule

Other changes in football rules will also be analyzed at this Saturday’s meeting, including the offside rule.

The proposal that will be on the table is a suggestion made by FIFA’s director of development, the former French coach Arsene Wenger, who proposes that the attacking player is no longer offside if he has any part of his body on the same line as the last defender.

Since the adoption of the VAR (video referee), the rule that defines the regular position or not of the attackers has been heavily criticized for millimetric offside markings.

With the proposed change, attackers would therefore benefit.

The meeting will also ratify some changes that have already been approved, which will come into effect from June, at the start of the next European season. The main one became known as “anti-Dibu Martínez”, in reference to the goalkeeper of the Argentina national team, who provoked players during penalty kicks in the World Cup.

Now, goalkeepers will no longer be able to play psychological games with the penalty kickers, or delay the kick by hitting their feet or hands on the goalposts or adjusting the nets.