FIFA is serious about eradicating time wasting in football. The option to introduce pure playing time is on the table and will be discussed by the IFAB, FIFA’s regulatory body, which is convening a meeting in London this weekend. Other major changes are also discussed there. Fundamental changes could be introduced as early as a year from the summer of 2024.
Gianni Infantino, the president of the world football association, wants to fight “the scourge” that is wasting time in his eyes as soon as possible. Introducing pure playing time seems to be the most effective method. The clock in the stadium is stopped when the ball is not in play. From that moment on, all matches would effectively last the same time: wasting time would no longer affect the duration of the playing time. In any case, as of June 30, 2023, the IFAB will introduce the rule that all time spent on a goal celebration will be added. Now that has not been officially established. From that moment on, the celebration of a goal may not take longer than one and a half minutes.
The IFAB will also discuss a possible change to the offside rule next weekend. Arsène Wenger, director of football development at FIFA, like his predecessor Marco van Basten, is a strong supporter of favoring the attacking side in the event of offside. In concrete terms, this means that the attacker must have completely crossed the line of the last defender before the offside kicks in. So most of the attacker’s body may be over that line, which is not the case in the current rules.
The anti-Emiliano Martinez rule
Another item on the agenda for the IFAB is an anti-Emiliano Martínez rule, as some have called it. The Argentinian goalkeeper pulled out all the stops at the World Cup during the penalty shoot-outs, including against the Netherlands, to get the penalty taker out of his concentration. The IFAB wants to introduce that distracting the penalty shooter by the goalkeeper is prohibited. The goalkeeper may no longer cause the penalty to be delayed by holding the ball longer, or by touching the post, crossbar or goal net.
