How long is an average Premier League match?

How long is a football match? It is 90 minutes, right? Well, we all know it’s not, yet we never really acknowledge it.

Every single time we watch a game of football we sit through minutes of injury-time at the end of each half, yet we still just reference 90 minutes.

The World Cup in Qatar saw some incredibly long matches, as referees chief Pierluigi Collina opted to clamp down on time-wasting.

That saw the average match length at the World Cup, excluding extra-time, jump to 100 minutes 23 seconds. It felt like a lot, but how does it compare to the Premier League?

How long is an average Premier League match?

According to Opta data at the time of writing, the average Premier League match in the 2022/23 season lasts 98 minutes and seven seconds.

That may surprise many as it means there is not much difference between the Premier League and the 2022 World Cup in terms of match length.

Indeed, the statistics show that the Premier League have some of the longest matches across Europe’s top divisions.

How long is the ball in play in the Premier League?

A key reason behind Collina’s clampdown was a belief that fans pay to watch 90 minutes yet get short-changed by time-wasting.

He explained: "As a spectator, I pay a ticket, physically at the stadium, or at home by TV, to see 90 minutes of football, but I only see 44, 45, 46 played.

"Half the price of my ticket goes into unplayed time. Most of the wasted time comes with throw-ins or goal kicks."

So, how long is the ball in play in the Premier League and how does that compare to other European leagues?

Premier League fans get to see, on average, 54 minutes and 49 seconds of football per match, which works out at just under 56% of the total average match time.

*all statistics accurate as of January 6, 2023