Paris 2024: Why There Is So Much Extra Time at Olympic Football Games
- Fans have questioned what seems to be an unusual amount of extra time added at the end of normal time at football games in Paris 2024
- Argentina's game against Morocco has arguably been the most controversial so far, with the latter almost getting an equaliser in the 16th minute of extra time
- But as Briefly News explains, there seems to be a logical reasoning from FIFA with the system first coming into play at the 2022 World Cup
Paris 2024 has already witnessed two matchdays before the official opening ceremony on River Seine on July 26.
Men's and women's football, rugby and handball are among the games that have already started across different venues in France.
Source: Getty Images
These games often start early due to time constraints involved in playing group matches first before the knockout rounds.
What happened in the Morocco vs Argentina game?
It hasn't been short of controversy and drama. Morocco beat Argentina in the opening fixture on Wednesday after a VAR review that happened after two hours. Crowd trouble forced the players back into the dressing room after Argentina thought they had equalised in the 16th minute of extra time.
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Yes, you read that right. 16th minute of extra time. One thing that has quickly become apparent in Paris is the ridiculous amounts of minutes added at the end of each half.
The Morocco vs Argentina game had 15 minutes added, Iraq vs Ukraine had 12 minutes, New Zealand's win over Guinea had 11 minutes, and so on.
A day later, the script was the same for women's football, with 10 minutes added on for France's crazy game against Colombia.
What do football rules say about extra time?
IFAB Laws Section 7 dictates the criteria officials will use to determine the amount of time they will add at the end of half. Issues like substitutions, deliberate time wastage, medical stoppages and time used for celebrations are factored in.
But as football fans have been accustomed to in the major European leagues, additional time often ranges from three to four to five minutes unless something serious happened in play.
Why do Paris 2024 games have so much extra time?
Fans watching the Argentina vs. Morocco game were bamboozled by the extra time added, given that no significant incident occurred during the game. Well, the extra time was part of a new system FIFA is trialling out.
Journalist Hugo Balassone, via Bola Vip, reports that FIFA is using a new VAR system that accounts for interruptions during the game and adds them at the end of the game to ensure 'greater net play time'.
How much time the ball is in play
It is reported that at the end of 90 minutes in the Argentina vs Morocco game, the ball was only in play for 54 minutes, which is way less than what FIFA wants. This is what is believed to necessitated the 15 minutes of extra time.
World Cup 2022 and Paris 2024 comparisons
It is not the first time a FIFA competition has used this system. The 2022 World Cup in Qatar also witnessed these bizarre amounts of minutes added on. Wout Weghorst famously equalised for the Netherlands against Lionel Messi's Argentina in the 11th minute of extra time.
At that time, the head of FIFA referees, Pierluigi Collina, said that officials had been instructed to compensate for the minutes lost during a game.
"What we want to avoid is to have a match with 42, 43, 44, 45 minutes of active play. This is not acceptable," he said as quoted by CNN.
There you have it. Brace yourself for some more unusual numbers every time the fourth official steps forward with the electric board at the end of 90 minutes.
Messi shares post after Argentina defeat
Briefly News also reported that Messi sent a post after Argentina lost their opening game of Paris 2024 to Morocco.
He wrote 'Insolito' on his Instagram stories, loosely translated to 'unusual' or 'unbelievable'.
Albiceleste thought they had equalised in the 26th minute of stoppage time, only for VAR to disallow the goal two hours later.
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Source: Legit.ng
