Why is a soccer match 90 minutes, and what is stoppage time?

A match consists of two 45-minute halves. The commonly told origin traces to an 1866 fixture between London and Sheffield clubs whose customary match lengths differed, with the two sides agreeing on ninety minutes as a compromise, and the Football Association codifying it thereafter. Unlike most American sports, the clock runs continuously and is not stopped for the ball going out of play, fouls, or celebrations, which is why the elapsed time greatly exceeds the time the ball is actually in play, commonly measured at under sixty minutes of active play in a ninety-minute match.

Stoppage time, sometimes called injury time or added time, is the referee's estimate of time lost to substitutions, injuries and their treatment, disciplinary incidents, goal celebrations, and deliberate time wasting. The fourth official displays a minimum, and the referee may add more. Enforcement tightened substantially around the 2022 World Cup, where added time regularly exceeded eight or nine minutes, a deliberate directive intended to restore playing time and discourage time wasting, and the practice has continued in major competitions since.

In knockout competitions where a winner is required, a drawn match proceeds to two fifteen-minute periods of extra time and then to a penalty shootout if still level. The away goals rule, which broke ties in two-legged European ties by counting goals scored away from home double, was abolished by UEFA in 2021 on the reasoning that its original rationale had faded. Two further clock notes: the referee is the official timekeeper rather than the stadium clock, and play must continue until the ball goes out of play or a stoppage occurs if an attack is in progress as time expires, which produces some of the sport's most dramatic finishes.