Soccer debates 60-minute clock

ST. PETER SBURG, RUS-SIA • Football’s rule-making panel wants debate on moving to 60-minute games and stopping the clock when the ball is not in play.

Playing two halves each of 30 minutes’ actual playing time would be a “radical change” to the Laws of Football, the FIFA- supported International Football Association Board acknowledged.

It features in a five- year strategy document of talking points and proposals with three goals — to increase respect, playing time and attractiveness of the game.

“The aim of this document is to generate discussion and take a ‘fresh’ look at how the Laws could make the game better,” IFAB said in the document called Play Fair!

Any changes would take years to enact.

Fans have become frustrated that games of 90 regulation minutes plus time added for stoppages at referees’ discretion typically produce “fewer than 60 minutes of (actual) playing time,” IFAB said.

On Saturday, there were just 47 minutes of actual playing time in Russia’s 2- 0 win over New Zealand to open the Confederations Cup, according to FIFA.

The 60-minute, stop-start game clock proposal would take away the incentive for time- wasting by players, IFAB suggested.