FIFA World Cup 2022: Long injury times - A sign of things to come?

The England vs Iran match was the longest World Cup group stage game of all time. (Image credit: Getty)

Monday saw record-breaking injury time additions across three matches as a total of 47 minutes and 33 seconds were added during the England vs Iran, Senegal vs Netherlands, and USA vs Wales matches. In fact, the England vs Iran match broke three FIFA World Cup records. It saw the most minutes added in the first half when the match officials extended it by 14 minutes, which was almost broken in the second half when 13 minutes were added, making it the longest injury time for the second half.

4 - The four single halves with the most stoppage time on record (since 1966) in a single #WorldCup match have all been today:#ENGIRN 1st half (14:08)#ENGIRN 2nd half (13:08)#USAWAL 2nd half (10:34)#SENNED 2nd half (10:03)

Prolonged.

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— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 21, 2022

So, why is there so much injury time at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar?

This is because FIFA now wants to accurately compensate for the time lost in matches; be it due to incidents, injuries, substitutions, goal celebrations, and even time-wasting by players.

Legendary former referee Pierluigi Collina, who has a seat at the IFAB (International Football Association Board), which oversees football rules and regulations, and is the chairman of the FIFA referees committee, says lengthy injury times will now become the norm.

“What we already did in Russia [2018] was to more accurately calculate the time to be compensated,” he told ESPN prior to the World Cup.

“We told everybody to don’t be surprised if they see the fourth official raising the electronic board with a big number on it, six, seven or eight minutes.

“If you want more active time, we need to be ready to see this kind of additional time given. Think of a match with three goals scored. A celebration normally takes one, one and a half minutes, so with three goals scored, you lose five or six minutes.

“What we want to do is 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.”

Fan friendly?

Accurately compensating for the time lost is aimed at giving a better experience for fans at the stadium and to those watching from home.

Enjoying the amount of time that is being added on by the officials at #QatarWorldCup2022 there is too much time wasting in football!

— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) November 21, 2022

Collina said in an April interview with Italian media outlet Calciatori Brutti: "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 going to be 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."

Fans can now expect longer matches thanks to specific instructions given to referees and match officials to accurately compensate for in-game interruptions.

This means a 90-minute football match will no longer be a 90-minute football match.