How Long Is Soccer Halftime at the World Cup?

Each match has an allotted amount of time for the teams to break in between the two 45-minute halves.

With the 2022 FIFA men’s World Cup in full force, casual soccer fans might wonder how long halftime is during a soccer match.

Halftime is set at 15 minutes between the first half and second half, according to The Football Association. The time does not exceed 15 minutes.

There will not be any halftime performances at the World Cup, meaning these 15 minutes are solely for the teams to have a water break and strategize with each other.

In a soccer match, halftime marks the only time in which the clock is fully stopped. The 45-minute halves can last longer than the allotted time due to stoppage time, which is time added onto the half for any stoppage of play based on injuries, substitutions or any other pauses in the game. However, the game clock does not stop during those circumstances.

So, soccer fans typically know how long to expect a match to last. A soccer match runs for an hour and 45 minutes with halftime included, but that time is expected to go at least a few minutes past with the stoppage time included.

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Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.