Does football need a 60-minute 'stop-clock'?

Man City boss Pep Guardiola with referee Daniele OrsatoImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Referee Daniele Orsato added three minutes on at the end of extra-time in Real Madrid's win over Manchester City - but blew his whistle with 10 seconds remaining

Real Madrid's comeback win over Manchester City was one of the most dramatic games in Champions League history - but it was not without controversy.

Having forced extra time with Rodrygo's stunning late double before edging ahead in the tie through Karim Benzema's penalty, Real did what most teams would do: they ran down the clock with a masterful exhibition of game management.

However, referee Daniele Orsato had added just three minutes to the second period of extra time, and then blew his whistle with 10 seconds remaining, just when City keeper Ederson was about to boot the ball up the pitch.

While some have eulogised Real after another stunning fightback, others have used the latter stages of the game to debate the rules around the ball being in play.

Writing in the Daily Mail, external, former referee Mark Clattenburg suggested football introducing 60-minute matches with a stop-clock to eradicate gamesmanship.

Other sports like basketball and American football use a stop-clock, and it's a straightforward concept: essentially, the clock is stopped whenever the ball is not in play, for incidents including injuries, substitutions and the referee dishing out cautions.

Football's law-making body the International Football Association Board (Ifab) has previously looked into the possibility of introducing a stop-clock.

In this season's Premier League, the average 'ball in play' time is 55 minutes and three seconds - the lowest it has been in over a decade.

BBC Sport - using Opta data - looks at some of the ball in play stats to see how each team performs.

Sorry, we can't display this part of the article any more.

Ball in play season by season

This season's ball in play average is the lowest the Premier League has seen since 2010-11.

It's down one minute and 19 seconds from last season, and a minute 40 seconds on the 2013-14 campaign's average.

But there has been less than an hour's play for as long as Opta has been collecting the data.

Ball in play in the Premier League

Season

Minutes

Seconds

2006-07

53

28

2007-08

53

48

2008-09

54

33

2009-10

53

25

2010-11

54

16

2011-12

55

53

2012-13

56

23

2013-14

56

43

2014-15

56

22

2015-16

56

1

2016-17

55

51

2017-18

56

11

2018-19

55

31

2019-20

55

49

2020-21

56

22

2021-22

55

3

But how about each team in the Premier League?

It will hardly be a surprise to learn that the league's best teams have the ball in play more than those who are fighting for their lives at the bottom of the table.

Norwich are something of an outlier, however, placing 11th for 'ball in play' despite having propped up the Premier League table for much of this season.

How much play are you seeing in your club's matches?

Premier League ball in play 2021-22

Team

Minutes

Seconds

Manchester City

60

53

Tottenham Hotspur

57

2

Liverpool

57

0

Chelsea

56

39

Manchester United

56

26

West Ham

56

19

Wolves

56

9

Arsenal

56

1

Brighton

55

47

Leicester

55

21

Norwich

54

48

Crystal Palace

54

24

Watford

53

49

Everton

53

28

Brentford

53

10

Newcastle

52

58

Leeds

52

53

Burnley

52

47

Southampton

52

42

Aston Villa

52

23

As seen below, a lot of the same teams pop up in this season's Premier League fixtures with the lowest ball in play time, with Aston Villa, Newcastle and Everton all appearing four times in the table above.

2021-22 PL fixtures with lowest ball in play time

Date

Home

Away

Minutes

Seconds

03/10/21

West Ham

Brentford

41

33

21/08/21

Aston Villa

Newcastle

41

51

13/02/22

Newcastle

Aston Villa

43

6

28/11/21

Leicester

Watford

43

31

4/12/21

Southampton

Brighton

43

33

22/01/22

Everton

Aston Villa

43

51

06/04/22

Burnley

Everton

44

13

18/09/21

Aston Villa

Everton

44

43

25/09/21

Watford

Newcastle

44

48

08/02/22

Newcastle

Everton

45

16

The Pulis pinnacle - games with least ball in play time

The game with the lowest time in play this season - West Ham v Brentford with 41 minutes, 33 seconds - is someway short of Stoke v Blackburn from February 2010, though.

That game - which Stoke won 3-0 in Tony Pulis' 300th game in charge - saw the ball in play for just 39 minutes and one second, 58 seconds fewer than the next game on the list.

The ball being out of play was a common theme in games featuring Stoke. The table below has four of their home matches.

Lowest ball in play times for PL fixtures since 2006-07

Date

Home

Away

Minutes

Seconds

06/02/10

Stoke

Blackburn

39

1

23/02/08

Wigan

Derby

39

59

19/11/11

Stoke

QPR

40

41

21/12/13

Stoke

Aston Villa

40

50

11/07/20

Watford

Newcastle

41

32

03/10/21

West Ham

Brentford

41

33

21/08/21

Aston Villa

Newcastle

41

51

30/09/18

Cardiff

Burnley

42

02

31/01/18

Stoke

Watford

42

08

18/04/09

Sunderland

Hull

42

17

The highest was Manchester United's 1-0 home win over Fulham in March 2012 with a whopping 71 minutes and 51 seconds.

That's over half an hour more than Stoke-Blackburn, so you can see how the ball in play times can vary wildly.

Highest ball in play times for PL fixtures since 2006-07

Date

Home

Away

Minutes

Seconds

26/03/12

Manchester United

Fulham

71

51

19/11/11

Swansea

Manchester United

69

53

28/04/18

Swansea

Chelsea

69

45

03/02/21

Burnley

Manchester City

69

29

15/05/21

Brighton

West Ham

69

26

02/01/20

Liverpool

Sheffield United

69

23

04/03/18

Manchester City

Chelsea

68

21

11/05/15

Arsenal

Swansea

68

14

11/01/20

Tottenham

Liverpool

68

14

01/09/07

Manchester United

Sunderland

68

01

Champions League on top again...

But how does the Premier League's ball in play averages compare to other leagues across Europe and the Champions League?

Interestingly, in Spain's La Liga - which Real Madrid have just won - has the highest average game time (97 minutes, 43 seconds) and the lowest percentage of time in play (54.6).

Ball in play across Europe 2021-22

Competition

Minutes

Seconds

% time in play

Champions League*

56

54

59.2

Premier League

55

3

56.4

Ligue 1

56

17

58.6

Bundesliga

54

23

57.0

Serie A

54

43

56.8

La Liga

53

21

54.6

*Champions League data does not include extra time

Related internet links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.