On the ninth matchday of the Bundesliga there were two games with more than two hours of gross playing time. There are clear reasons why games are significantly longer today than they were ten years ago.
Games that start at 3:30 p.m. on Saturdays are still the only ones in the Bundesliga that run at the same time. At least that’s how it is in theory. When the second game of the day kicks off on Sunday at 5:30 p.m., the first should be over. Most of the time it is. But it is now more common for games to last longer than two hours gross.
That’s how it was on Sunday (November 2nd, 2025) when referee Daniel Schlager whistled the game between 1. FC Köln and Hamburger SV. The game between VfL Wolfsburg and TSG Hoffenheim was almost five minutes, because it was exactly 17.35 and seven seconds when FC in Müngersdorf was able to celebrate the clear victory against HSV. This is shown by the log data from the sports show that is created during archiving.
Based on this data, it becomes clear that Bundesliga games now last much longer gross than a decade ago. This is shown by a comparison between the current season and the 2015/16 season. The individual games from match days seven to nine from both seasons were examined.
Difference of about 14 minutes between minimum and maximum
It turned out that a game on match days seven to nine of the current season lasted an average of 1:55:41 hours, i.e. one hour, 55 minutes and 41 seconds.
The lone leader in the period under consideration is the game between Cologne and HSV with 2:05:03 hours. No game lasted less than 1:50:00 gross. The top game on matchday 9 has the lowest value. According to the Sportschau log data, the game between FC Bayern and Bayer Leverkusen (3-0), in which no goal was scored after the break, lasted 1:50:55 hours from kick-off to final whistle.
| Matchday | cut | maximum |
|---|---|---|
7 | 1:55:29 | 2:01:27 |
8 | 1:55:00 | 1:58:05 |
9 | 1:56:33 | 2:05:03 |
7-9 | 1:55:41 | 2:05:03 |
Compared to the season ten years ago, the gross playing time increased by more than five minutes. On match days seven to nine of the 2015/16 season, no game lasted longer than 1:54:00 minutes. The average was 1:50:18 hours.
The shortest game in the period under review was the duel between Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Mönchengladbach on matchday 9, which ended 1:5. It took 1:46:06 hours.
| Matchday | cut | maximum |
|---|---|---|
7 | 1:50:30 | 1:53:57 |
8 | 1:50:17 | 1:53:40 |
9 | 1:50:09 | 1:52:17 |
7-9 | 1:50:18 | 1:53:57 |
VAR and instructions from the DFB as reasons
The reasons for the significantly longer gross playing times are obvious. With the introduction of the video assistant in German football for the 2017/18 season, there was one more reason for interruptions. By default, every goal is checked to see whether it was scored regularly. There can be several situations in the attack in question, which are viewed on the video assistant monitors. An extreme example occurred on Sunday in Cologne.
Because the aim was to check for a possible offside position and several possible fouls when HSV was supposedly 1:2, around six minutes passed during the checks. “It took a very, very long time. I admit that”said referee Schlager at “Dazn”.
The check made it clear that the added time would be a double-digit number of minutes. This results from new instructions that have been in effect since this season. Referees are required to add at least 30 seconds for every goal in a half and every substitution slot.
The aim is to increase the net playing time, which averaged 57:30 minutes in the last Bundesliga season, according to the DFB. The target window was 60 minutes, the association announced at the beginning of the season.
By the start of the 90th minute, two goals were scored after the break in Müngersdorf last Saturday, and there were also four substitution slots.
There could soon be even more checks
In addition, there was a longer treatment break due to injuries and delays due to discussions after yellow-red cards. These are currently not checked by the video assistant. But that could change soon, but it would only be about the yellow card that leads to the expulsion.
In the game in Cologne, twelve minutes of added time were shown, which was then extended again because FC scored two more goals.
Even in Berlin longer than two hours
On the ninth matchday there was another game in which there were minute-long VAR checks. In the game between 1. FC Union Berlin and SC Freiburg, the review of two goals that were conceded took a total of around five minutes.
So it happened that the game exceeded the gross playing time of two hours by 16 seconds. The advantage on Saturdays: The top game in the evening always starts at 6:30 p.m. This often overlaps with the late game in the 2nd league.