Answering your question about the duration of added time in football, the record for the longest amount of added time recorded in a football (soccer) match belongs to a Carabao Cup game between Burton Albion and Bournemouth in September 2019, which had 28 minutes of added time. CauHoi2025.UK.COM is here to give you detailed information about added time in football and more.
1. Understanding Added Time in Football
Added time, often called stoppage time or injury time, is the extra minutes tacked onto the end of each half of a football match. This compensates for time lost during the game due to various interruptions.
1.1. Common Causes of Added Time
Several factors contribute to the need for added time:
- Injuries: When a player gets injured and requires medical attention, the clock stops.
- Substitutions: Each substitution takes time as players leave and enter the field.
- Goal Celebrations: The jubilation after a goal can eat up valuable seconds.
- Disciplinary Actions: Yellow cards and especially red cards involve stoppages.
- VAR Reviews: Video Assistant Referee (VAR) reviews can halt play for minutes.
- Other Delays: These include equipment checks, crowd disturbances, or even floodlight failures.
The fourth official keeps track of these delays and calculates the total added time, which the referee can then adjust if necessary. This ensures that the match gets as close as possible to its full, intended duration.
1.2. The Purpose of Added Time
Added time serves a critical purpose: it prevents teams from exploiting time-wasting tactics to gain an unfair advantage. Without it, a team leading late in the game might intentionally slow down play to run out the clock.
1.3. Recent Regulation Changes
Football regulations have evolved to make the calculation of added time more precise. This aims to promote fairness and improve the overall quality of the game. These changes are designed to address tactical time-wasting and ensure that the ball is in play for a reasonable amount of the match.
2. The Longest Stoppage Time in Football History
The record for the most added time goes to a 2019 Carabao Cup match between Burton Albion and Bournemouth. The game experienced a unique interruption:
2.1. The Burton Albion vs. Bournemouth Match
During this match, the floodlights failed due to an electrical issue. It took approximately 24 minutes to restore the lights and resume play. As a result, the officials added a staggering 28 minutes at the end of the regulation 90 minutes, setting a record for the longest added time in a football match.
2.2. Impact of Extended Added Time
While such extreme cases are rare, the incident highlights how unforeseen circumstances can significantly extend a match. It also underscores the importance of added time in ensuring that the match reflects the true playing time lost.
3. Premier League Added Time Rules
The English Premier League has specific rules and guidelines for calculating added time. Recent changes aim to clamp down on time-wasting and ensure a fairer game.
3.1. New Regulations for 2023/24 Season
Starting with the 2023/24 season, Premier League referees began adding time more precisely, accounting for:
- Goals and Celebrations: The exact time taken for celebrations after a goal.
- Substitutions: The time required for players to be substituted.
- Injuries and Treatment: The time spent on the field for medical treatment.
- Penalties: From the moment of the foul to the whistle for the penalty kick.
- Red Cards: From the moment of the offense until the player leaves the field.
These regulations mark a shift from previous seasons, where nominal periods were added for such incidents. It was not unusual to see more than five or six minutes of added time. Now, longer periods have become the norm.
3.2. Addressing Tactical Time-Wasting
One of the primary reasons for these changes is to reduce tactical time-wasting. This tactic, where teams deliberately slow down the game to protect a lead, has become increasingly prevalent. By accurately accounting for lost time, officials aim to keep the ball in play for a greater portion of the match.
3.3. Impact on Ball-in-Play Time
Data from the 2022/23 Premier League season showed an average ball-in-play time of just 54 minutes and 46 seconds, the lowest since records began in 2012/13, according to Opta. This decline was attributed to several factors, including VAR reviews and increased time-wasting.
The new regulations are intended to reverse this trend and ensure that fans see more actual playing time.
