Why is a football match 90 minutes long?

KohakuWhy is a football match 90 minutes long? It turns out there is no clear answer yet.

The answer in 30 seconds

Let me go through what is known, one step at a time.

Under today's rules, a match is two 45-minute halves, 90 minutes in all. The 90-minute length was put into words in a rules change around 1897, but no record that settles why that length was chosen has been found. There is a half-time break between the halves.

A distant view of a football match being played in a stadium in the evening — A football match is played in a first half and a second half of 45 minutes each.Photo: Marathon / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Two halves of 45 minutes under the rules

The Laws of the Game of football (soccer) are looked after by an organization called IFAB, the International Football Association Board. Law 7 says that a match is played in two equal halves of 45 minutes, so the first half and the second half make 90 minutes in all. The halves may be shortened, but only if both teams and the referee agree before the match starts.

Figure: The length of a football match

90 minutes was written down around 1897

The 90-minute length first appears in the rules around 1897. A British newspaper in 1897 reported a proposed change saying that the length of a game would be fixed at 90 minutes unless the teams agreed otherwise. The half-time break also appeared in the written rules for the first time then, and it was not to exceed five minutes.

Was the 1866 match the beginning?

So why 90 minutes? One story often told is that when a team from London and a team from Sheffield played each other in 1866, they set the match at 90 minutes. But the length of a match is said not to have been clearly written in the rules at that time, and no record has been found that shows this match was the true beginning of the 90 minutes.

KohakuThe 1866 match is a famous story, but there is no record that proves it was the beginning, they say.

Added time after the 90 minutes

Today's 90 minutes is not time on a clock that never stops. The referee decides how much time was lost to things like substitutions and checking on an injury, and adds it to each half. This is called added time. The referee can increase the added time that has been shown, but cannot reduce it. If there is a penalty kick at the end of the second half, the match goes on until the kick is taken.

Want to know more?

Under today's rules, the half-time break may not exceed 15 minutes, longer than the five minutes in the rules of 1897.
In extra time, the rules allow a short drinks break of no more than one minute at the half-time interval.

KohakuWe know when 90 minutes was written into the rules, but the reason it was chosen is still a mystery.

Quick quiz: test yourself

When was the 90-minute length written into the rules?

Show the answer

The 1830s
Around 1897
The 1950s

Around 1897 The 90-minute length of a match was put into words in a rules change around 1897. No record that settles why 90 minutes was chosen has been found.

Sources

Law 7 - The Duration of the MatchIFAB (International Football Association Board)
The Draw for the Cup (Liverpool Mercury, 2 March 1897)Play Up Liverpool! (transcription of the Liverpool Mercury)
Die Spielregeln, Regelgeschichtenachspielzeiten.de (history of the Laws of the Game)

This article was written after checking the sources above as of 2026-10-03. Explanations may change as research progresses. Photo credits are shown below each photo.