Does Injury Time Count in Football Bets? – Your Questions Answered

The short answer to this is yes. Injury time does count in football bets across all markets.

However, it’s important to be clear on the difference between injury time and extra time when betting on football. Unless explicitly stated by the bookmaker, football bets do include the 90 minutes of normal time plus any injury time. They do not include extra time or penalties. 

What is injury time?

There is an ongoing discourse within the footballing world regarding how much time the ball actually is in play. Who knows, in the near future, we could perhaps see some major changes to the way the beautiful game is seen now, such as a 60 minute stopping clock.

Injury time, which is also often known as added or additional time, as well as stoppage time, is the time added on at the end of each half to make up for any stoppages, which is essentially whenever the ball isn’t in play. The stops in play could be due to a number of reasons, including:

• Substitutions
• Player injuries
• Drinks break for players
• Time wasting
• Scuffles among players and staff
• Players and fans celebration alike after a goal is scored
• VAR interventions
• Medical emergencies among spectators
• Protests
• Problems within the ground, such as the goal net or a power cut. 

Sergio Aguero’s injury time goal against QPR in 2012 to win Manchester City the league must be one of the most important injury time goals of all.

Does first half injury time count in football bets?

Yes, first half injury time will count towards football bets. If you have placed a bet that requires something specific to happen in the first half, then events in first half injury time will count towards that first half. 

For example, let’s say you have backed Paris Saint Germain to be to be winning at half time and at full time in their latest Ligue 1 encounter.  When the clock shows 45 minutes, the game is tied at 1-1. However, there was a bad injury to one of the players and the referee has added 5 minutes of stoppage time. In the 45+3 minute, PSG hit the back of the net, therefore leading 2-1. The perennial French Champions ultimately hold on to win the game after 90 minutes too. In this instance, your bet would be a winning one. However, if side from the French capital’s second goal had been scored in the 48th minute, the match would have been drawn at HT, and the bet subsequently would have lost. 

The same applies for any markets that it’s possible to bet on, including:

1. Over/Under X number of goals
2. Both teams to score in the first half
3. First half correct score, or result (1X2)
4. Second half correct score, or result (1X2)
5. Number of corners
6. Number of bookings

What is extra time?

Extra time is an extra 30 minutes, split into two 15 minute halves, played at the end of a knockout football match where the game has to be concluded with a victor. These matches could be in the Champions League knockout stages or a domestic cup like the League Cup. This will occur when the match has been tied after the full 90 minutes, including all injury time, has been played. If the match is still drawn at the end of extra time, the match will proceed to a penalty shootout. 

Juan Mata scored for Chelsea against Hull City in the 100th minute, which is the second latest Premier League goal.

After reading this article, we hope you’ve gained a more comprehensive knowledge whether goals in injury time count towards football bets, as well as the difference between injury time and extra time. Our informative blogs don’t stop at this. Feel free to browse our blog page for more content. 

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Written by Will Almond for for kickoff.co.uk