'60 Minutes - Don't Delay. Play!' campaign launched

Extensive studies undertaken by AFC found out that the actual average playing time in all AFC competitions is around 52.07 minutes, which is 7.25 minutes lesser than FIFA competitions, which are considered a global benchmark, and 11.50 minutes lesser than major European leagues.

Asian teams still have eight more minutes of actual play to catch up with the FIFA average and the '60 Minutes' campaign has been designed in such a way that it will add value to AFC's competitions and each match in particular.

Speaking while launching the campaign, AFC General Secretary Dato’ Alex Soosay said:

“The AFC Executive Committee has approved the 60 Minutes campaign to improve game flow so that we can avoid time wasting and delay tactics. Overall, the campaign aims to enhance the quality of the Asian game.

“At the moment, our match is played for an average time of 53 minutes, whereas the playing time in most European leagues is more than 60 minutes. Therefore it is our goal to increase our actual playing time to 60 minutes.

“Why 60 minutes? Coincidentally, we will be celebrating the AFC’s 60th anniversary in the year 2014. So it is a momentous year to start the campaign next year to encourage our teams to play 60 minutes. We will promote this campaign throughout the continent.”

An increase in average actual playing time is expected to lead to several gains, particularly value and excitement for the fans, improvement in technical quality of play, more broadcasting interest and, with better marketing, more access to resources to invest in football.

A concerted effort to promote '60 Minutes' will be undertaken with a series of measures, including education programmes for referees, coaches and teams, and proactive application of the advantage rule and minimisation of fouls.

The campaign will culminate with the AFC Asian Cup 2015 in Australia.