AUDIO: Data Talk: Longer injury times and the consequences (2 min)
As of: November 26, 2025 10:37 a.m
The German football referees are consistently implementing the clubs’ wish for more clarity regarding stoppage time: the average stoppage time in the Bundesliga is more than ten minutes for the first time this season. What are the consequences?
“The ball is round and a game lasts 90 minutes,” former national coach Sepp Herberger once said, thereby providing two pieces of football wisdom that are still often quoted today – almost 50 years after his death.
But since this season at the latest, that’s no longer true. Due to the consistent action of the referees to adjust the added time even more closely to the actual delays, the average game length exceeded 100 minutes for the first time.
According to data from Global Soccer Network, the average time so far in the 2025/2026 season has been exactly 100 minutes and three seconds.
Accurate recording of the “technical added time”
Before the season, the DFL approached the DFB with the desire to make the determination of injury time more uniform and reliable. That’s why the video assistant in the “Kölner Keller” now takes care of accurately recording the times when the game is interrupted. Goals and substitution slots are initially taken into account at a flat rate of 30 seconds each. Which doesn’t mean that in individual cases more time is recorded if it takes longer – with cheering or changing.
“In the end, it is the referee himself who determines exactly how long the replay will last. For example, if he has recognized that a team was playing for time, he can also add time.”
DFB referee spokesman Alexander Feuerherdt
However, the video assistant also adds up the exact times of injury interruptions and video evidence. The result is the so-called “technical added time”, which is communicated to the referee on the pitch shortly before the end of the game.
“Clarity created that was needed”
At the beginning of the season there was a lot of excitement here and there when seven, eight or even more than ten minutes of added time were shown. “But our impression is that the waves are no longer hitting as high,” said Alexander Feuerherdt to NDR.
The spokesman for DFB Schiri GmbH also reports on some media inquiries about certain games: “We communicated a lot. And we created the clarity that was necessary.” It is now possible to list exactly what extra time there was for and how much added time.
The net playing time also increased significantly
The increased total playing time is accompanied by a significantly increased net playing time; i.e. the time in which the ball actually rolls. The DFB and DFL had hoped to reach 60 minutes – and according to GSN they have almost achieved this. It is currently 59:48 minutes.
The increase in net playing time was not the main reason for the change in calculating the exact injury time, emphasized Feuerherdt. But: “It’s a pleasant side effect. It’s desirable that we get the net playing time to 60 minutes.”
Historic duel between Wolfsburg and Cologne
And so injury time has long since developed into its own phase of the game. As of now, 27 goals have already been scored after the 90th minute. This corresponds to a share of 8.36 percent – more than ever before.
Nevertheless, games like the 3-3 draw between VfL Wolfsburg and 1. FC Köln on matchday three remain the exception. Not only did three goals come in stoppage time, Cologne’s Jakub Kaminski’s goal at the final score was the latest in Bundesliga history (90th + 14th).
Players have already adapted
Although playing time has increased significantly, GSN’s data shows no decline in performance compared to previous years. On the contrary – the values for overall running performance, intensive runs and sprints decrease less compared to other phases of the game. And the total mileage in the final minutes (meters/minute) has even increased compared to the previous season.
“In absolute terms, the players deliver more minutes of performance,” says the data analysis. This is an indication of improved training control, athleticism and rotation within the team.
Bundesliga still lags behind Spain and England
However, the Bundesliga is not alone in this development. In La Liga, the Spanish first division, the games in the top European leagues last the longest, lasting an average of 100 minutes and 36 seconds. The Premier League in England (10:32) and the 2nd Bundesliga (10:35) also play longer than in the German upper house.
And the ball isn’t even round anymore…
By the way, it’s not just the sentence about 90 minutes that is outdated. A football isn’t round either. Even the world association FIFA has already moved away from this and describes: “The ball is spherical.”
The Free University of Berlin took a closer look at this topic and came to the following conclusion with regard to the ball: “Mathematically speaking, we are dealing with a truncated icosahedron.” That doesn’t sound like football wisdom at all and raises the question: What would Sepp Herberger say about all of this?