In the English football pyramid, games last longer. Credit: Getty Images/Pete Norton
UEFA-branded 100-minute matches are madness, 'absurdity' and 'tragedy' as the prospect of a post-Premier League Champions League and stoppage-time World Cup was dismissed.
< p>In a fierce attack that will rekindle the debate around fears of burnout. , Zvonimir Boban, head of football's governing body, supported the protests led by the players.
«This is crazy — this is too much, so we will not do this,» he said in response to other competitions, following the instructions legislators of the game more accurately measure the time lost due to stops.
The so-called 100-minute approach was first used at the World Championships in Qatar last year, where it was received mostly positively. Supporters of the new rules point out that last season the average time in the Premier League was already 98 minutes.
But players like Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne, Manchester United defender Raphael Varane and the unions players, vehemently protested against the increase in losses.
The ball has been in play for an average of 59 minutes and 20 seconds in the Premier League this season, nearly five minutes longer than last season's 54:52. Confirming UEFA's disagreement with such a policy, head of refereeing Roberto Rosetti said that in the Champions League the playing time is already 60 minutes, as referees are advised to speed up stoppages.
«We already play over 60 minutes in the Champions League — we started working on it over five years ago,» he said at a press conference in Monaco. “There is something more important than the accuracy of extra time. Why do people like the Champions League so much? Because it's intense, it's fantastic, the players never stop. We're telling our referees to speed up the restart of play instead of [focusing] on stoppage time.»
While most domestic competitions have followed FIFA's lead in adding precise time-outs for goal celebrations, injuries and substitutions, former Croatian international Boban says such measures are unnecessary. He said the policy was «absolutely absurd» after a study found that big talent was already on edge due to busy work schedules. According to FifPro, Jude Bellingham has played more competitive minutes [15,000] than Michael Owen, Frank Lampard and David Beckham combined at the same age.
“In terms of player welfare, it’s kind of a small tragedy or a big tragedy because we add almost 12, 13, 14 minutes,” Boban said. “We add almost half of the game, these are very difficult minutes. When you play 60, 65 minutes — and I can speak from experience, especially as a midfielder — when you get tired, that's the last 30 minutes of the game. And then someone comes along and adds another 15, 12, 14 minutes of play, for what reason? «
He said that the English teams know «even more than we do, because you have more games.» “And now we add to them, probably, another six or seven minutes per game – that’s almost 500 more minutes per season,” he said. “It's six games. This is madness. It's too much, so we won't do it. We will follow our recommendations.”
Speaking in Monaco ahead of the Champions League draw, Rosetti also outlined new efforts to attract more referees to the profession. Telegraph Sport reported this year how the Football Association has been running points deduction tests for grassroots teams that show descent from officials. Rosetti welcomed the project and stated that it could potentially be implemented elsewhere.
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