What is stoppage time in soccer?
The clock never stops in soccer, so the ref adds minutes at the end for subs, injuries, and time-wasting. When you see '90+4,' that extra time is real — and the ref decides when it ends.
Explain further
Here is the part that throws off newcomers. In most American sports, the clock pauses constantly: incompletions, timeouts, fouls, the two-minute warning. In soccer, the clock runs straight through all 90 minutes and almost never stops. So when play halts for a substitution, an injury, a goal celebration, or a team deliberately stalling, that lost time has to come from somewhere. The referee adds it on at the end of each half, which is why the broadcast suddenly shows '90+4' or '45+2.' The fourth official just holds up the board that displays the minimum.
The referee tracks these stoppages and signals the minimum amount of added time before it begins. It is a floor, not a ceiling: if a player goes down or another delay happens during stoppage time, the half keeps going. That is why a match shown as '90+4' can easily run to the 95th or 96th minute. The referee alone decides when it truly ends, and there is no buzzer to bail anyone out.
You will also hear this called 'injury time' or 'added time' interchangeably. Do not confuse it with 'extra time,' which is something else entirely: that refers to the two 15-minute periods played in knockout games when the score is tied after 90. Stoppage time happens in every match; extra time only happens when a winner must be decided.