Stoppage Time vs Extra Time: How a Soccer Match Is Actually Timed

Stoppage time, added time and injury time are the same thing: minutes the referee adds to the end of a half to make up for time lost during it. Extra time is something else — two additional periods, each no longer than 15 minutes, played only when a competition needs a winner from a drawn match. In soccer (association football), the first comes from Law 7 of the IFAB Laws of the Game and the second from Law 10, and a competition's own rules decide whether the second exists at all.

The timings below come from the 2026/27 Laws of the Game, applicable from 1 July 2026 — an edition that also added several measures aimed at the time lost in the first place.

Three names, two ideas

The informal name "injury time" undersells it: injuries are on the Law's list of causes, but so is almost everything else that stops the ball.

How the clock works in a normal match

Law 7 sets two equal halves of 45 minutes. They can be shortened only if the referee and both teams agree before kick-off and the competition rules allow it. Players are entitled to a half-time interval of no more than 15 minutes; competition rules must state its length, which may be altered only with the referee's permission.

Within each half, the referee makes an allowance for all playing time lost through:

• substitutions;
• assessment and/or removal of injured players;
• wasting time;
• disciplinary sanctions;
• medical stoppages permitted by competition rules, such as drinks breaks (no more than one minute) and cooling breaks (ninety seconds to three minutes);
• delays relating to video assistant referee checks and reviews;
• goal celebrations;
• any other cause, including a significant delay to a restart, such as interference by an outside agent.

Not every pause counts. The IFAB's practical guidelines for match officials point out that many stoppages, such as throw-ins and goal kicks, are an entirely natural part of the game, and an allowance is made only when those delays are excessive.

At the end of the final minute of each half, the fourth official shows the minimum additional time the referee has decided. The referee can then increase it, but not reduce it. And a timekeeping mistake in the first half cannot be corrected by lengthening or shortening the second.

A worked example

The Laws do not assign a fixed number of seconds to any event; the referee judges the time actually lost. To see how the allowance builds, assume a second half with these stoppages:

On those assumptions the board would show five minutes. If a player then went down in the 93rd minute and a further minute was lost, the referee could play on past the 95th — the board is a floor, not a ceiling. The numbers in the table are illustrative, not typical values.

Penalties at the end of a half

Under Law 7.4, if a penalty kick has to be taken or retaken, the half is extended until it is completed. Law 14 defines "completed" for this case: after the kick, the ball stops moving, goes out of play, is played by any player other than the defending goalkeeper, or the referee stops play for an offence by the kicker's team. So if the goalkeeper parries and the kicker's team-mate scores from the rebound, the goal does not count when the half has been extended for the kick: the kick was completed the moment someone other than the goalkeeper played the ball.

Extra time: only when a winner is required

Law 10 is blunt: if both teams score the same number of goals, the match is drawn. Only when competition rules require a winner after a drawn match or a home-and-away tie may one of three procedures be used, alone or in combination:

1. an away-goals rule;
2. two equal periods of extra time, each not exceeding 15 minutes;
3. penalties — a penalty shoot-out.

So a drawn league match ends as a draw, and its effect on the standings is a points question, covered in how soccer league tables work and goal difference and tiebreakers. A knockout tie that must produce a winner may go to extra time, to penalties, or to both, depending on the competition's rules.

Extra time has its own details. A short drinks break of no more than one minute is allowed at its half-time interval. Under Law 3, unused substitutes and substitution opportunities carry into extra time, a competition may allow one additional substitute, and changes made between the end of normal time and the start of extra time, or at half-time of extra time, do not count as opportunities. Law 14 also allows either half of extra time to be extended so that a penalty kick can be completed.