EFL Announces New Rules To Crack Down On Time-wasting

The English Football League have announced a new “approach to timekeeping” in order to “ensure a more accurate calculation of additional time”.

The decision has been made in response to recent guidance from the International Football Association Board after the success of a new timekeeping format was trialled and positively received at last year’s World Cup which saw record numbers of minutes being added on to matches.

A key new aspect of the guidance involves what constitutes as in-play events. Events that were previously used to record added time resulted in only a small amount of time wasted being added on to the clock. Now, these events will be more stringently measured. 

Events that will be recorded more accurately include goals and celebrations, substitutions, injuries, treatment time, the out-of-play time between an offence inside the box and the taking of the penalty alongside the out-of-play time in the aftermath of a red card.

Medical treatment of players is also being changed with the majority of incidents resulting in players being treated off the pitch in order to discourage timewasting through feigning injuries. To compound this action, any players who leave the field for treatment must remain off the pitch for at least 30 seconds at the referee’s discretion.

The IFAB and FIFA have also clarified several laws of the game. This includes a reduction of discipline to a DOGSO offender should the offence take place in the box and result from a failed attempt to play or challenge for the ball.

The full details of the new approaches detailed by the EFL can be found here.