Overtime (sports)


Overtime or extra time is a tie-breaking method used in various sports. If the scores are equal after the regular period of play has ended, an additional period of play - the 'overtime' or 'extra time' period - is contested to determine the winner. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required to have a clear winner, as in single-elimination tournaments where only one team or player can advance to the next round or win the tournament and replays are not allowed.
The rules of overtime or extra time vary between sports and even different competitions. Some may employ "sudden death", where the first player or team who scores immediately wins the game. This rule is sometimes known as golden goal. In others, play continues until a specified time has elapsed, and only then is the winner declared. If the contest remains tied after the extra session, depending on the rules, the match may immediately end as a draw, additional periods may be played, or a different tie-breaking procedure such as a penalty shootout may be used instead.

Association football

Knock-out contests (including professional competition)

In association football knockout competitions or competition stages, teams play an extra 30 minutes, called extra time, when the deciding leg has not produced a winner by the end of normal or full-time. It follows a short break where players remain on or around the field of play and comprises two 15-minute periods, with teams changing ends in between. Although the Laws of the Game state that extra time is one of the approved methods to decide a winner, competitions are not bound to adopt extra time, and each competition is free to choose any method designated in the Laws of the Game to decide a winner.
In a one-off tie or deciding replay, level scores nearly always go to extra time but this only applies to the FIFA competitions and the first-tier continental national team competitions. In games played over two legs at the continental levels, domestic levels or even at lower levels, teams only play extra time in the second leg where the aggregate score – then normally followed by an away goals rule – has not produced a winner first. However starting the 2021–22 season, UEFA decided to abolish it for all club competitions and changed with the penalty shootout if the aggregate is still tied after the extra time. Ties in the FA Cup used to be decided by as many replays as necessary until one produces a winner within normal time rather than have any extra time or shootouts though, nowadays, replays are limited to just one with the game going to extra time if teams are still level. Equally, CONMEBOL has historically never used extra time in any of the competitions it directly organizes except only in the final match of a competition, such as the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana. The score in games or ties resorting to extra time are often recorded with the abbreviation a.e.t. usually accompanying the earlier score after regulation time. The two-legged format for the club competition finals with this rule is still used in CONCACAF club competitions where an away goals rule still takes place.
Ties that are still without a winner after extra time are usually broken by kicks from the penalty spot, commonly called a penalty shoot-out. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, many international matches tried to reduce this by employing the golden goal or silver goal rules, but competitions have not retained these. The abbreviation "a.s.d.e.t." refers to a result "after sudden death extra time".

U.S. collegiate rules

Up until 2021, under NCAA college soccer rules, all games that remained tied after 90 minutes had an overtime period. A sudden-death golden goal rule was applied, with the game ending as soon as an overtime goal was scored. If neither team scored in the two 10-minute halves, the game ended in a draw unless it was a conference or national championship tournament game. A playoff game tied after two overtime periods then moved to a penalty kick shoot-out with the winner determined by the teams alternating kicks from the penalty mark.
Since the 2022 men's and women's season, the golden goal has been abolished during the regular season. Since 2024, games that ended in a draw during a conference or national tournament game involve two 10-minute periods, with golden goal. A playoff game tied after two overtime periods still moves to a penalty kick shoot-out with the winner determined by the teams alternating kicks from the penalty mark.

U.S. high school rules

High school rules vary depending on the state and conference, but most will have a sudden-death overtime procedure wherein the game ends upon scoring a golden goal, although in some instances the overtime will go until completion with the team in the lead after time expires declared the winner. The overtime period length may vary, but it is commonly 10 minutes long. Depending on the state, if the game is still tied at the end of the first overtime:
  • As many additional overtime periods – golden or silver goal rules – may be played as needed to determine a winner.
  • After one or more overtime periods result in the score remaining tied, a shootout procedure may be played. In a shootout, the coaches or team captains select five players to shoot penalty kicks with teams alternating kicks from the penalty mark in an attempt to put the ball into the net. The procedure continues until each team has taken five kicks, or, if one side has scored more successful kicks, the other could not possibly reach with its remaining kicks.
  • If both teams make the same number of successful penalty kicks after all eligible players have taken their first kick, the procedure repeats; the teams are not required to follow the same order of kickers as was used for the first kick, and may replace one or more of the original kickers. The procedure repeats until one side has successfully converted more penalty kicks in a set of five attempts.
  • Depending on the state or conference, the game may go directly to a penalty shootout rather than playing overtime.
  • Under rules published by the NFHS, a section called "Sample Tie-Breaking Procedure" is included, but state associations are not required to adopt those procedures.

    American and Canadian football

National Football League

In the National Football League, sudden death overtime periods are played during regular-season and postseason games, but not during preseason games from to and since. Regular-season games end in a tie if the score is still tied after one 10-minute overtime period, while in postseason games, 15-minute overtime periods are played until a winner is determined.

Procedure

At the start of overtime, the team captains and officials hold another coin toss. Similarly to the coin toss at the beginning of the game, the team that wins the coin toss chooses whether they want to receive or kick the opening kickoff, while the other team chooses which end of the field they will defend. Gameplay is conducted similarly to the regulation periods, and each team is given two timeouts. Instant replay reviews must be initiated by the replay official, i.e. there are no challenges.
The winner is then decided as follows:
  • Each team is guaranteed one possession in overtime regardless of the result of the opening drive. In the unlikely event time expires while the initial receiving team still possess the ball without scoring, the game ends in a tie; if the initial receiving team scores as time expires, then that team wins.
  • The team with the most points after each team has had an opportunity to possess the ball wins the game.
  • If the team that receives the opening kickoff does not score on its opening drive, or if the score is still tied after each team has had an opportunity to possess the ball, the next team to score wins the game.
  • Any score by the defense results in a win for that team.
  • The game ends in a tie if the score is still tied at the end of the 10-minute overtime period.
Because playoff games cannot end in a tie, the overtime procedure is modified for these games:
  • Each team gets three timeouts instead of two.
  • Each team is guaranteed one possession regardless of the result of the opening drive.
  • Overtime periods are 15 minutes instead of 10.
  • If the score is still tied at the end of the first overtime period, or the if the second team to possess the ball has not completed their initial possession at that point, additional 15-minute overtime periods are played until a winner is determined.
  • If more than one overtime period is needed:
  • * There is a two-minute intermission between overtime periods.
  • * Second and fourth-quarter timing rules apply during the second overtime period.
  • * The rules stipulate that there is no halftime break after the second overtime period and provide for another coin toss at the end of every fourth overtime period; however, no playoff game to date has extended into a third overtime.

    History

The National Football League introduced sudden-death overtime for any divisional tiebreak games beginning in 1940, and for championship games beginning in 1946. The first postseason game to be played under these rules was the 1958 NFL Championship Game between the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants.
In 1974, the NFL adopted sudden-death overtime for regular season and preseason games: if the score is tied after regulation time, one additional period is played.
Until the 2016 season, the period was 15 minutes in all games: in, it was changed to 10 minutes in regular season games, while overtime in preseason games was abolished in, and it remains 15 minutes for playoff games.
In March 2010, NFL owners voted to amend overtime rules for postseason games; the changes were extended to the regular season in 2012.
Since no 2010 postseason game went into overtime, the first overtime game played after the implementation of this rule came in the wild-card round in 2011. Incidentally, this was also the shortest overtime in NFL history until 2019; Pittsburgh Steelers kicker Shaun Suisham kicked off and the ball went out of the back of the end zone, resulting in a touchback and no time off the clock. Tim Tebow, then with the Denver Broncos, threw an 80-yard touchdown pass on the first play to Demaryius Thomas to give the Broncos the win in only 11 seconds.
The first time the "first-possession field goal" rule was enforced occurred on September 9, 2012, the first week of the season, in a game between the Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars. Minnesota's Blair Walsh kicked a 38-yard field goal on the Vikings' first drive. When Jacksonville regained possession, they failed to gain a first down, losing possession and the game on a failed fourth-down conversion.
The first overtime in which both teams scored occurred on November 18, 2012, in a game between the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars; the Texans won 43–37. The first overtime game that ended in a tie after both teams scored in overtime occurred on November 24, 2013, when the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers played to a 26–26 tie.
On February 5, 2017, a Super Bowl went into overtime for the first time, with the New England Patriots defeating the Atlanta Falcons, 34–28; the Patriots scored a touchdown on their initial possession, so the Falcons never received the ball in overtime.
On December 29, 2019, in their season finale against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Falcons finished the game with a pick-six seven seconds into overtime by Deion Jones, breaking the record for the shortest overtime in NFL history.
A rule change gives both teams one possession to start the first overtime in playoff games, no matter whether or not a touchdown is scored first; the changes were extended to the regular season in. The first game to go into overtime under this rule was Super Bowl LVIII following the season. However, that game was not impacted by the rule change; the San Francisco 49ers kicked a field goal on their first possession and the Kansas City Chiefs would have gotten a possession under the pre-2022 rule as well.