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In an effort to reduce time-wasting and encourage more playing time, the AFC launched the ’60 Minutes – Don’t Delay. Play!’ campaign.
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. 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 ’60 Minutes’ campaign will be begin on December 10, 2013, during the AFC Champions League and AFC Cup draws and will culminate with the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in Australia.
