FIFA has taken measures to cut down on time delays. Now the players “only” have five seconds to take a throw-in, otherwise it is punished with the opponents getting the ball. Jürgen Klopp believes it is pointless to break up the game with scheduled drink breaks. The boss of Red Bull’s football venture believes this has nothing to do with protecting the players in the heat.
Because according to the medical Liverpool coach, FIFA uses consideration for the players as a justification for a measure that has actually been introduced to benefit sponsors and TV stations.
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“Football has been taken hostage by directors sitting in air conditioning, The measure was presented as a shield for the players against the heat, but in reality it is a golden room built for the sponsors. When I saw the players standing still during a drink break, while the TV stations’ commercials determined the rhythm of the match, I couldn’t help but ask myself: “Who really earns the World Cup? The players? Or the advertisers?”, Klopp hums to the German TV channel ZDF.
“A World Cup match should flow like a river. Instead, we build dams in the middle of it so that the advertisements can get through. It is dangerous for the spirit of the game. Football was once the main attraction, but now it risks becoming background music for a commercial show,” Klopp concludes.
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During the World Cup finals in the USA, Mexico and Canada, there are drink breaks in the middle of both the first and second halves.
