April 7 – FIFA have been quick to rubbish reports coming out of Italy which suggested World Cup games in Qatar could last 100 instead of 90 minutes.
The reports, five days after April Fool’s Day, swept through social media like wildfire, some suggesting that FIFA president Gianni Infantino was considering encouraging referees to play more stoppage time, effectively extending games to 100 minutes, to make up for the amount of time the ball is not in play.
Having already suffered a huge backlash over its biennial World Cup idea, the last thing FIFA needed was more global outrage over an equally non-sensical concept.
Playing an extra 10 minutes would have to be approved anyway by International Football Association Board but FIFA said the reports were nonsense and that there were no plans to change the rules.
“Following some reports and rumours spread today, FIFA would like to clarify that there will be no changes to the rules regarding the length of football matches for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™️ or any other competition,” a brief statement said.
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