“In the World Cup the games will be 100 minutes”

FIFA is working on a new revolution for the world of football, the effects of which could begin to be seen in the World Cup in Qatar. Gianni Infantino, during his visit to Italy for the 100 years since the birth of Artemio Franchi, officially introduced a question that he considers fundamental: effective playing time.

His statements caused a stir in Italy, where the debate on this innovation in the beautiful game is always current and was in the news again after the last Juve-Inter match. yesccording to ‘Corriere dello Sport’, Infantino wants the next World Cup to be the most spectacular on and off the pitch, and he wants to put an end to downtime: spectators and televisions “pay for the 90 minutes, not the 50 players in the that is played”.

The introduction of effective time would require a new rule from the IFAB, but FIFA would be considering advancing it by extending the discount at the end of 90 minutes. It is something that happened already from the round of 16 of Russia 2018: in 16 games, a total of 140 minutes of injury time were played, more than eight per game (extensions included). For the Italian newspaper, “you have to imagine, in Qatar, matches that will exceed 100 minutes” also due to the 10 substitutions that are now allowed.

Another innovation that is planned for the coming months is the “automatic offside”. Using the same Hawkeye principle, offsides would be signaled to the linesmen’s clocks immediately, eliminating the current minute wait.