The U.S. Women’s National Team played far longer than the customary 90 minutes as it overcame Vietnam in its 2023 World Cup debut.
They spent an additional 22 minutes on the field. And it has happened frequently thus far in this competition. The Zambia-Japan game lasted 19 more minutes. The match between Canada and Ireland had 17 minutes of extra time, and Colombia-South Korea went 18 minutes beyond the allotted time.
Games have traditionally been extended by referees. However, these extended durations are a relatively recent development that really became apparent at the 2017 FIFA Men’s World Cup in Qatar. A standard soccer match consists of two 45-minute halves and 90 minutes of regulation time, as we mentioned back then. In contrast to basketball or football, the referee keeps track of the time and has broad discretion to add further time as necessary. The full time that should have been added for injuries, goal celebrations, and replacements, however, was not actually reflected in many games.
FIFA, the world soccer body, wants its referees to keep better track of the time spent on the field in order to prevent losing any time that should have been played due to a delay in play.
