Football fans have been tuning in to the opening few days of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
England began their tournament with a 6-2 win over Iran on Monday afternoon. There have also been victories for Ecuador and the Netherlands, with Wales and the United States playing out a draw.
However, the early matches in the tournament have seen a rather unusual amount of extra time being added on by officials. In England’s win, there was a total of 24 minutes added on across both halves of football - 14 in the first and 10 for the second.
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The other matches have also seen large amounts of added time. Across the four matches played so far there have been 57 minutes of added time across eight halves of football, averaging more than seven minutes of additional time per half.
So what are officials seemingly adding on more time at the tournament?
Former referee Pierluigi Collina has previously spoken about the issue of time added on for stoppages during matches. The 62-year-old currently works for the International Football Association Board (IFAB) which takes charge of the laws of the game across the globe.
Speaking earlier this year, Collina hinted that fans should get accustomed to seeing increased amounts of added on time during matches. The Italian also gave his reasons why fans would be pleased to see this happen.
"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,” Collina told Italian news outlet Calciatori Brutti in April.
“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."
And this month, Collina was asked again about how likely it would be that referees would indicate larger amounts of added on time during the World Cup in Qatar. He would also say that the same strategy was used in the previous World Cup in Russia in 2018 and would likely happen again in the Middle East.
“What we already did in Russia was to more accurately calculate the time to be compensated,” Collina told ESPN last week.
“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.”
