Why +4 does not promise a 94:00 finish in football

Read the announcement as a minimum

The added-time board sets a minimum, not an exact finishing time. The referee may extend it. IFAB states this in its English and German versions of Law 7. A broadcast showing +4 therefore does not promise a whistle at 94:00.

Separate the announced figure, the clock visible on screen and the referee's decision. These are different observations. Keep following the sequence instead of treating the graphic as a countdown that must stop the action.

A viewing note with three fields

To understand the end of a half, make a short note:

• Announcement: what figure did the board or commentary give?
• Visible sequence: what happened afterwards, including interruptions you actually saw?
• Ending: does the recording show the referee's signal, or does the clip stop before it?

Record an interruption as an observation, not as your own calculation of the official allowance. A cropped clip may omit relevant context. When a label or the commentary is unclear, mark the information as unknown instead of filling the gap from memory.

Worked example: the picture continues beyond 94:00

Imagine a broadcast showing +4 at the end of normal time. Its clock later reads 94:20 and play continues. That alone does not demonstrate a refereeing error: the announced amount was a minimum. Note the announcement, the visible interruptions afterwards and the actual ending, if the recording includes it.

This is a hypothetical viewing exercise, not a reconstruction of a particular match. Your notes help identify what the picture does and does not establish. They do not establish exactly how much time the referee should have added.

Use the match clock, not the player's progress bar

A video player's progress bar describes your position in a recording. For this exercise, copy the broadcast's match clock and added-time label. If either is missing, keep that uncertainty in your note. You can still record the order of events without assigning an exact match minute.

Pleymeikel lists broadcasts and scheduled events in Live. Check the particular title and its details before choosing what to watch; this guide does not establish that a specific competition is available. Use the three-field note with a sufficiently complete sequence, wherever you are legitimately watching it.