Radical proposal of reducing regulation time of football matches from 90 minutes to 60 minutes by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) has received a backing from former Chelsea star Gianfranco Zola.

The change, which will mean that each half of a match is reduced to 30 minutes, is among various bizarre rules which could be part of the game as supported by the global ruling body Fifa and Zola is at ease with it.

“I personally like this rule because there are so many teams who try to take advantage of it because they are winning and wasting time. So I think it is not a bad rule.

“Football is fast enough. Some of the changes I don’t like very much, but this is a good one,” he told BBC.

Other areas in line for changes include; removing the offside rule, scrapping penalty shootouts and replacing it with “take-on challenge”, reducing punishment for deliberate handballs, introducing a basketball-style foul system and increasing the number of substitutes.