Following Manchester United’s 7-0 loss to Liverpool, FIFA considering a new regulation. This to assist teams that humiliated by their opponents.
Pierluigi Collina, the head of Fifa’s referees, questioned Andy Madley’s choice. The choice to merely add three minutes of extra time during the onslaught at Anfield. He later acknowledged, though, that FIFA might implement a “mercy rule” in specific circumstances.
Despite six goals scored and 10 substitutes made, Madley only added three minutes to the finish of Liverpool’s enormous victory.
As was the case during the World Cup, FIFA is advocating for longer stoppage time. The Premier League has not yet adopted that, though.
Yet according to Collina, the referees over the weekend acted with “common sense” to assist Manchester United and West Ham.
“Last weekend, ten matches were played in the Premier League and four matches exceeded 100 minutes [in total],” Collina said.
“Two of them should have been higher than this only because they were 7-0 and 4-0 [Brighton v West Ham United] and the referee probably decided not to consider the additional time be given accurately.”
“Six goals were scored in the second half [at Anfield]. I can understand that giving quite a relevant amount of additional time when it is 7-0 is difficult to understand in this specific match. But if the regulations of the competition say that the entire goal difference is relevant for the ranking at the end even one goal scored or not scored can make the difference.”
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FIFA considering a “mercy rule”
However, rather than ‘common sense’ used in these situations, Collina believes a ‘mercy rule’ could be implemented.
“Maybe in the future we may consider to say that additional time has not to be given at the end of the match if there is a difference bigger than X goals between the two teams, but that would be in the laws of the game,” Collina added.
“Now it is common sense — but common sense is not common sense if it affects someone. In Spain v Costa Rica at the World Cup, Spain leading 6-0 and eight minutes of additional time given.”
“Spain scored one [more] goal in additional time [to make it 7-0] and that goal could have cost Spain or Costa Rica qualification for the next round of the competition.”
Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, recently urged that leagues to watch. This is to make sure they are adopting FIFA’s timekeeping system. That implies that, similar to the World Cup, Premier League games could stretch longer than 100 minutes. And that too in the upcoming season.
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