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Do you want to know how long is a Soccer Game? Soccer is the sport that most people around the world play. Millions of people watch soccer league games and big tournaments like the World Cup and Euro Championships every week.

About 2 hours are needed for a soccer game: The game lasts for 90 minutes, which includes two 45-minute halves, stoppage time, and a 15-minute break. When there is a tie, the game goes into extra time, which consists of two 15-minute halves, stoppage time, and a 1-minute break. If that isn’t enough, there is a shootout with penalties.

But people who are new to soccer often ask, “how long is a soccer game?” We can tell you the answer and tell you about the history of this rule.

How Long is a Soccer Game in Game Minutes?

Professional men’s and women’s soccer games last 90 minutes, with each half lasting 45 minutes. There is a fifteen-minute break between the first and second periods.

Why is it 90 Minutes of Game Time?

In the early days of soccer, teams would play until it got dark. There was no official clock, but in 1886, that changed. In 1886, during a game between London and Sheffield, the game time was set at 90 minutes. This became the standard.

In 1897, the 90-minute match became an official rule, and the IFAB followed suit. Even now, soccer games in the pros are still 90 minutes long.

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How Long Is a Professional Soccer Game?

In both men’s and women’s soccer, a fully professional game lasts 90 minutes. It is split into two 45-minute parts that are the same length. In between each period, there is a 15-minute break called a halftime.

Professional soccer is ruled by the International Football Association Board (IFAB). This is the group that writes the “Laws of the Game.”

Every year, this organization adds to, changes or updates the rules of association football to keep players safe and make a fun game for fans.

Law 7: The Duration of the Match is about how long a professional soccer game lasts. It says that each half lasts 45 minutes, and the referee can add extra time if needed.

How Long Do Women’s Soccer Games Last?

Association football games for women are the same length as soccer games for men: 90 minutes, with two 45-minute halves and a 15-minute break in the middle.

How Long is a High School Soccer Game?

Two 40-minute halves make up a high school soccer game. In high school soccer games, there is a 10-minute break between each half. This is on top of the official game clock that runs for 80 minutes. But if both teams agree before the game starts, the time between halves can be shorter.

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How Long do Middle School Soccer Games Last?

Most games at the middle school level have two 30-minute halves and a 5-minute break.

This length of time may be different from middle school to middle school, though. In some of them, there are two 35-minute halves and a 5-minute or 10-minute break between them.

If we’re talking about games at middle school tournaments, their length can also vary.
Matches can be made up of two 20-minute halves separated by a 5-minute break, two 25-minute halves separated by a 5-minute break, or even two 35-minute halves separated by a 10-minute break.

How Long is a College Soccer Game?

There are two 45-minute halves in a college soccer game that lasts the full 90 minutes. There is a 15-minute break between the first and second halves.

But the Golden Goal Rule is an interesting part of NCAA college soccer games. The Golden Goal Rule says that if there is no score at the end of a game, the game will end in a tie. If both teams score at the same time at the end of the game, it goes into overtime.

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How Long Is a Youth Soccer Game?

For example, U6 means that the players are under six years old.

U6

Players ages 6 and under play soccer in four 6-minute quarters, with a short break (up to 5 minutes) between each quarter. There is no extra time or stoppage time.

U7 and U8

Under 7 and 8-year-olds play four 12-minute quarters with 5-minute breaks in between. There is no extra time or stoppage time.

U9 and U10

This age group plays two halves of 25 minutes, with a 10-minute break in between. There is no extra time or stoppage time.

U11 and U12

There is a 10-minute break between each of the two 30-minute halves. There is stoppage time, and there are two 10-minute halves of extra time separated by a 5-minute break.

U13 and U14

The U13 and U14 soccer players play two halves of 35 minutes each, with a 15-minute break in between. There is stoppage time, and there are two 10-minute halves of extra time separated by a 5-minute break.

U15 and U16

In this age group, there are two 40-minute halves and a 15-minute break between them. There is stoppage time, and there are two 15-minute halves with a 5-minute break in extra time.

U17 and Up

In youth sports leagues, this is the oldest age group. There is a 15-minute break between the two 45-minute halves. There is stoppage time, and there are two 15-minute halves with a 5-minute break in extra time.

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How Long is A Soccer Game In The Olympics?

There are two 45-minute halves in a 90-minute Olympic soccer game. In the elimination rounds, games that are tied will go into two 15-minute overtimes.

If there is no clear winner at the end of overtime, the teams go to a shootout with penalty kicks to decide who won.

How Long Is A Soccer Game World Cup?

Both the men’s and women’s World Cup games are split into two halves of 45 minutes each. Stoppage time is often added to the end of each half by the referee.

When teams are tied at the end of regulation play, there are two 15-minute overtime halves, just like in the Olympics.

If there is still no winner after extra time, the teams go to a penalty kick shootout.

How Long Is A Soccer Game On Tv?

Live soccer games last at least 105 minutes which is made up of two 45-minute halves and a 15-minute break in the middle. Most of the time, though, they will be a bit longer because of the extra time.

You can’t tell how long a soccer game on TV will last because it depends on what happens and how the game is set up.

For instance, a regular game in a professional league can end in a tie, but that can’t happen in an elimination game. If an elimination game ends in a tie, it must go to overtime, where there may be a winner after halftime. On the other hand, if no one wins in extra time, it will go to penalty kicks.

Using the above example as a guide, a normal professional game without extra time could end in 105 minutes. If a professional game goes all the way to penalty kicks, it could take at least 145 minutes.

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How Many Innings are in a Soccer Game?

There are no “innings” in a soccer game. In baseball, there are nine innings, but this term is not used in soccer. In short, soccer doesn’t have any winnings.

Instead, halves are used in professional soccer. There may be breaks between each quarter in youth soccer. Soccer is played in two 45-minute halves.

The History Of Extra Time in Soccer Games

In tournaments with knockout rounds, like the FA Cup and the World Cup, the winning team needs a result to move on to the next round. Today, it is common for soccer games to go into extra time for an extra 30 minutes; early on in the history of soccer, that was not the case.

If a decision couldn’t be made after that, the game would have to be played again, and if another 120 minutes didn’t do the trick, the match would come down to a coin toss.

The only time a Euro or World Cup game had to be decided by a coin flip was in the semi-final of the 1968 European Championship between Italy and the Soviet Union. Giacinto Facchetti got it right. Everyone agreed that a better system was needed because the game was so important.

Since it would be unfair to flip a coin or make the players play again, the International Football Association Board came up with a penalty kick shootout to decide who wins a soccer game when the scores are tied after 120 minutes of play. Penalty shootouts have never been a favourite of the soccer purist.

In the 1990s, FIFA added the “Golden Goal” to soccer games that went into extra time. FIFA tried to get teams to play more offensively by making it so that the first team to score a goal in extra time would win automatically. This would mean there would be less penalty shooting. But after a few years, the new law was rethought and thrown out.

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How Do Extra Periods Work?

Even though a tie can happen in some games, it doesn’t happen in the World Cup. If the score is tied after 90 minutes, the game goes into two 15-minute overtime periods. Even if a team scores during the 30 minutes of overtime, the game is not over until the 30 minutes are up. If there is no winner after overtime, the game goes to a shootout against the other team’s goalkeeper, with the best of five shots counting.

Overtime in Soccer Games

Almost all soccer games during the regular season don’t go into overtime. If the scores are the same for both teams, it’s just written down as a tie. But this doesn’t work in a tournament or knockout stage where a winner is needed to move on. When that’s needed, overtime comes into play.

This does affect how long a soccer game lasts, but only by a certain amount. The game will last 30 minutes, split into two halves of 15 minutes each. Between the two halves of extra time, there is a short break, but it is usually only a minute or two.

A penalty shootout is the last way to decide who won if the score is still tied. Some people don’t agree with this because penalties are so different from playing the game. In this situation, each team chooses five players to take penalty kicks and try to score more goals than the other team. If neither team wins after five penalty kicks, the game keeps going until someone does.

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Penalty Kicks in Soccer Game

When a game is tied, penalty kicks are often used to decide who wins. Most of the time, each team gets 5 shots on goal, and each team takes a turn. Each shot must be taken by a different player. After 5 shots, the team with the most points wins. If you need to, you can add more shots.

Does the Additional Time Only Get Added to the Second Half?

Any delay of play during a match adds to the time that the game is stopped for that period. So, even though the first period is 45 minutes long, the first half might end around the 49-minute mark if there was a delay of a game of 4 minutes. The second half starts when the clock hits the 45-minute mark.

How Long Is a Soccer Game With Extra Time?

In certain cups or tournaments, if the game ends in a tie, it goes into extra time (also called overtime).

In soccer, extra time is 30 minutes long and is made up of two 15-minute halves and a 1-minute break.

When Extra Time is used, a soccer game lasts for 120 minutes: 90 minutes of regular time plus 30 minutes of Extra Time. With breaks and average stoppage times, that adds up to about 150 minutes, or about two and a half hours.

How Long Is a Soccer Game With a Penalty Shootout?

As long as the penalty shootout doesn’t go into sudden death, a soccer game with a penalty shootout lasts 172 minutes: 90 minutes of regular time, 30 minutes of extra time, and 20 minutes for the 5-shots stage. It takes about 2:52 hours altogether.

If there is still a tie (which is better called a “draw”) at the end of extra time, there will be a penalty shootout where each team gets five shots. The first stage of a penalty shootout is when each team gets five shots.

A penalty kick is a quick 1-minute thing.

For the first five kicks from the penalty mark, it takes 10 to 15 minutes.

If the first round ends with both teams having the same number of points, the shootout moves on to the “sudden death” round. After each team takes a shot, the winner is the first team to take the lead.

The sudden-death part of the penalty shootout can last anywhere from 2 to 3 minutes to forever. It depends on how often someone misses their shot and gives their opponent an advantage.

What Is The Longest Soccer Game Ever?

Over time, the rules about how long a soccer game is and how much extra time is added have changed. In the past, the rules of the game allowed for more extra time after each one!

The German Championship game is between 1. FC Nürnberg and Hamburger SV in 1922 may have been the longest. At the 189th minute, the game was called because it was getting dark.

The Guinness Book of World Records says that the longest soccer game was 108 hours long. This “game” was a marathon to raise money for the British Heart Foundation. In 2016, it was put on by Heartbeat United in the UK.

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Soccer Game Length VS Other Sports

Soccer stays true to its roots by keeping games moving at a pretty fast pace. There are no breaks for commercials, so teams have to use advertising in the stadiums and on the TV screen instead. In terms of length, it is the most predictable major team sport.

Keeping everything on time also lets broadcast companies put matches right after each other without too much risk that one match won’t end on time. Companies don’t know if a sport, like baseball or a tennis, will last two hours or six hours because there is no clock. Figuring out how to keep our fans happy becomes a logistical nightmare.

Fans of soccer have a much better idea of when they want to watch the sport. Live sports can sometimes get in the way of a person’s plans, but not if they can be watched in a two-hour window. Fans all over the world find it much easier to take a break in the middle of the day if they know an important match will only take two hours to watch.

Conclusion

In short, a soccer (football) game between pros lasts for 90 minutes. The 90-minute mark has been part of soccer games since 1886 when the Laws of the Game said it should be. Even though games usually last two hours because of stoppages and possibly extra time, fans aren’t complaining.

Compared to Major League Baseball, which takes over 3 hours to finish, a soccer game is one of the quickest sports to watch.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about How Long is a Soccer Game? 

How long is a soccer game in hours?

Given that a soccer game will have a break at halftime and stoppages at the end of each half, you can expect the average game to last around 2 hours or just under. For example, most Premier League games that start at 3 p.m. end just before 5 p.m.

Does a soccer game ended after 90 minutes?

When the players have played for 90 minutes, the game is over. The time allotted to play soccer is two 45-minute halves with a 15-minute break in between. This gives the game 90 minutes to be played.

What Causes Soccer Games to Last Over 90 Minutes?

Soccer games last longer than 90 minutes because of things like lost time, injured players being checked on or taken off the field, the ball going out of play, fouls, punishments, VAR checks, set pieces, substitutions, drink breaks, and goal celebrations.

How Long is the Break in Extra Time?

During extra time, the players get a 1-minute break to switch sides of the field, drink some water, and ask the coach for instructions. Still, IFAB does not think of it as an extra time interval.

How Long is the Break Before Extra Time?

In soccer, there is a 5-minute break between the end of the game and extra time.

How Long is a Soccer Game on TV?

On average, it takes 1:52 hours (112 minutes) to finish a soccer game, including stoppage time and half time. It takes that long to watch a professional men’s or women’s soccer game on TV or in person at the stadium.

How Long are Women’s Soccer Games?

Women’s soccer games last 90 minutes, just like men’s soccer games in the pros.

How Long is Soccer Overtime?

There are a total of 30 minutes of overtime or extra time in soccer. During the extra 30 minutes of play, there will be a one-minute break between each 15-minute period.

How long is half-time for soccer games?

After the first 45 minutes, there is a 15-minute break. Only with the permission of the referee can the length of halftime be changed.

Why do soccer games go over 90 minutes?

Because of stoppage time, soccer games can last longer than 45 or 90 minutes. Stoppage time is extra time added to the end of each half to make up for time lost during the game because of things like time-wasting or substitutions.

Does soccer have a time limit?

A soccer game has two 45-minute halves, and the referee can add extra time to each one if he or she wants to. There is a break between the halves that lasts no more than 15 minutes. Most of the time, the extra time is based on what the referee thinks about how much time was taken up by injuries and substitutions.