Added time, also known as stoppage or injury time, is extra time added at the end of each half of a football match to compensate for time lost during play.
Time during the game can be lost due to injuries requiring medical treatment, substitutions, goal celebrations, disciplinary actions such as yellow or red cards, VAR reviews, and other delays like equipment checks or crowd disturbances.
The fourth official calculates the amount of added time throughout the game, which the referee may adjust based on further stoppages.
Added time ensures that the match’s full duration is played, preventing teams from gaining an unfair advantage through time-wasting tactics.
Recent regulations have made the calculation of added time more precise, aiming to improve fairness and the overall quality of the game.
MORE: Offside rule explained with help of VAR
What are the added time rules in Premier League?
As part of new regulations introduced for the 2023/24 season, referees began to add an exact amount of time combined for things like:
- Goals and subsequent celebrations
- Substitutions
- Injuries and treatment time (if required)
- Penalties (from moment of offence to the whistle for the penalty kick)
- Red cards (from moment of offence to when the player leaves the field)
Raphael Varane, formerly of Manchester United, became the first footballer to speak out about the new regulations and claims professional footballers’ opinions are being dismissed.
We had a meeting last week with the FA. They recommended from the referees new decisions and rules.
From the managers and players, we have shared our concerns for many years now that there are too many games, the schedule is overcrowded, and it’s at a dangerous level for…
— Raphaël Varane (@raphaelvarane) August 7, 2023
In previous seasons, nominal periods of time were defined for those specific incidents. Very rarely did you see more than five or six minutes added, whereas now it has become the norm.
Why? Because the officials and Premier League are looking to clamp down on tactical time-wasting. It’s the oldest trick in the book and while it can be a wise one, it has gone too far in recent years.
Newcastle United had the ball in play the least of any top-flight side during the 2022/23 season and that helped them achieve qualification for the Champions League for the first time in 20 years.
According to Opta’s data, the average ball-in-play time in the Premier League 2022/23 season was 54 minutes and 46 seconds. That’s the lowest it has ever been since records began in 2012/13.
There are a whole host of reasons for this, but VAR has been a major contributing factor with the clock still ticking while decisions are being reviewed.
What is the record for the longest match in football history?
The longest amount of added time recorded was during a Carabao Cup game between Burton Albion and Bournemouth back in September 2019.
During the match, the floodlights went out due to an electrical failure and it took around 24 minutes for play to resume. The clock reached 90 minutes and the officials added a further 28 minutes of play, a record to date.
In the highlights of the match below, you can see the lights go out and the players leave the field.
If on average the ball is only in play for 54 minutes, could we really see a game have another quarter of an hour added at the end? Probably not.
But one thing is for certain, if you attend a game, you may want to rethink about beating the traffic — there’s been plenty of late drama since these new laws.
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