In an interesting article from Gazzetta dello Sport this morning we can see the actual amount of time the ball spends in play across the top leagues in Europe. Serie A trails both the Premier League and Bundesliga respectively who average (minutes/seconds) 56’35 and 56’31 of actual playing time. Serie A follows next with 55’54 which is noticeably ahead of the rather pedestrian pace of La Liga which clocks an average of 53’18 with the ball in play. Since 2008 Italy’s numbers have been rising and it is the aim of the federation to see the ball in play for a full hour during every Serie A match. On Sunday at the San Siro, Inter versus Torino clocked the highest numbers of the season as the ball was in play for 67 minutes and ten seconds.
Source: Gazzetta dello Sport
