Football games to be reduced to 60 minutes?

A proposal to reduce each half of a game to 30 minutes is likely to be considered by the world football's rule-makers, in a bid to prevent time-wasting and make the sport more attractive.

The International Football Association Board (Ifab) has outlined a draft of the proposed changes to the rules of the game in a new strategy document titled 'Play Fair!'.

Adopting two halves of 30 minutes with the clock stopped when the ball goes out of play is one of dozens of ideas put forward by Ifab in an attempt to make football more attractive, reports The Guardian.

Ifab says the Fair Play! has three aims - to improve player behaviour and increase respect, to increase playing time and to increase fairness and attractiveness.

"Many people are very frustrated that a typical 90-minute match has fewer than 60 minutes of effective (actual) playing time (EPT) i.e. when the ball is in play. The strategy proposes measures to reduce time-wasting and 'speed up' the game." Ifab said in the document.

Ifab further informed that some of the proposals could be implemented immediately and require no law changes, while some are "ready for testing/experiments" and some are "for discussion".

Other ideas up "for discussion" include referees blowing for half-time or full-time only when the ball goes out of play, and a penalty kick being either scored or missed/saved, with players not allowed to follow up to score, in order to stop encroachment into the penalty area.

The proposals are being trialed at the Confederations Cup in Russia, which started on Saturday.