Penalty shoot-out (association football)


In association football, a penalty shoot-out is a tie-breaking method to determine which team is awarded victory in a match that cannot end in a draw, when the score is tied after the normal time as well as extra time has expired. For example, in a FIFA World Cup, penalties are used in elimination matches; the round of 32, the round of 16, the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, and the final. In a penalty shoot-out, each team takes turns shooting at goal from the penalty mark, with the goal defended only by the opposing team's goalkeeper. Each team has five shots which must be taken by different players; the team that makes more successful kicks is declared the victor. Shoot-outs finish as soon as one team has an insurmountable lead. If scores are level after five pairs of shots, the shootout progresses into additional "sudden-death" rounds. Balls successfully kicked into the goal during a shoot-out do not count as goals for the individual kickers or the team, and are tallied separately from the goals scored during normal play. Although the procedure for each individual kick in the shoot-out resembles that of a penalty kick, there are some differences. Most notably, neither the kicker nor any player other than the goalkeeper may play the ball again once it has been kicked.
The penalty shoot-out is one of the three methods of breaking a draw that are approved by the Laws of the Game; the others are extra time and, for two-legged ties, the away goals rule. A shoot-out is usually used only after one or more of the other methods fail to produce a winner. The method of breaking a draw for a specific match is determined beforehand by the match organising body. In most professional level competitions, two 15-minute extra time periods are played if the score is tied at the end of regulation time, and a shoot-out is held if the score is still tied after the extra time periods.
Although widely employed in football since the 1970s, penalty shoot-outs have been criticised by many followers of the game, due primarily to their perceived reliance on luck rather than skill and their dependence on individual duels between opposing players, which is arguably not in keeping with football as a team sport. However, some believe the pressure and unpredictability involved makes it one of the most thrilling finales to any sport.

Overview

During a shoot-out, players other than the kicker and the goalkeepers must remain in the centre circle. The kicking team's goalkeeper stands at the intersection of the goal line and the line marking the penalty area near one of the assistant referees. Goals scored during the shoot-out are not commonly added to the goalscoring records of the players involved.
A draw is a common result in football. Shoot-outs are only used in competitions that require a match-winner at the end of the game – this is predominantly in knockout "cup" ties, as opposed to round-robin "leagues"; they decide which team progresses to the next round of a tournament, or wins it. Usually extra time has been played first, but this is not necessary; exceptions include the Copa Libertadores, Copa América, CONCACAF Gold Cup, FA Community Shield, the EFL League Cup, and the Football League Trophy, all of which use shoot-outs straight after the end of normal time.
The rules of some competitions provide that a shoot-out may be used to decide placings in a round-robin group, in the unusual event that two teams who have faced each other in a final-day match finish the group with identical statistics, and no other team has the same record. This was invoked in Group A of the 2003 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, in which Italy and Sweden held a shootout immediately after their drawn match. This rule is a relatively recent innovation, and for example did not apply in Group F of the 1990 World Cup, where the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands were separated by drawing of lots immediately after drawing their final-day match, however, at the 1994 UEFA European Under-16 Championship, the penalty shoot-out was used in the last Group A match between Belarus and Austria.
Several leagues, such as the J.League, have experimented with penalty shoot-outs immediately following a drawn league match, with the winner being awarded an extra point. In the United States and Canada, Major League Soccer initially also had a shoot-out immediately following the end of full-time, even during league matches, although these shoot-outs differed from standard penalty shoot-outs. The final few seasons of the Yugoslav First League before the country's collapse eliminated draws in favour of penalty shoot-outs, with the winner getting one point and the loser getting nothing. This practice was controversial and unpopular and was derisively referred to as "Šajber's penalties" after Slavko Šajber, the president of the Yugoslav FA who pushed for the change.
A team that loses a penalty shoot-out is eliminated from the tournament while the winning team in the shoot-out advances to the next round or is crowned champion but the match is classed as a draw by FIFA. For instance, the Netherlands are considered to have concluded the 2014 FIFA World Cup undefeated, despite being eliminated at the semi-final stage.

Procedure

The following is a summary of the procedure for kicks from the penalty mark. The procedure is specified in Law 10 of the Laws of the Game.
File:Hearts vs. Gretna Scottish Cup final.jpg|thumb|Steven Pressley scores for Hearts against Gretna in the 2006 Scottish Cup Final shoot-out
File:Didier Drogba Manuel Neuer last penalty kick Champions League Final 2012.jpg|thumb|Deciding penalty kick of Didier Drogba in the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final
  1. The referee tosses a coin to decide the goal at which the kicks are taken. The choice of goal may be changed by the referee for safety reasons or if the goal or playing surface becomes unusable.
  2. The referee tosses the coin a second time to determine which team takes the first kick.
  3. All players other than the kicker and the goalkeepers must remain in the pitch's centre circle.
  4. Each kick is taken in the general manner of a penalty kick. Each kick is taken from the penalty mark, which is from the goal line and equidistant from each touch line, with the goal defended only by the opposing goalkeeper. The goalkeeper must remain between the goal posts on their goal line until the ball has been kicked, although they can jump in place, wave their arms, move side to side along the goal line, or otherwise try to distract the shooter.
  5. Each team is responsible for setting the order in which its eligible players take kicks.
  6. Each kicker can kick the ball only once. Once kicked, the kicker may not play the ball again.
  7. No other player on either team, other than the designated kicker and goalkeeper, may touch the ball.
  8. A kick results in a goal scored for the kicking team if, having been touched once by the kicker, the ball crosses the goal line between the goal posts and under the crossbar, without touching any player, official, or outside agent other than the defending goalkeeper. The ball may touch the goalkeeper, goal posts, or crossbar any number of times before going into the goal as long as the referee believes the ball's motion is the result of the initial kick. This was clarified after an incident in the 1986 World Cup shoot-out between Brazil and France. Bruno Bellone's kick rebounded out off the post, hit goalkeeper Carlos's back, and subsequently bounced into the goal. Referee Ioan Igna gave the goal to France, and Brazil captain Edinho was booked for protesting that the kick should have been considered a miss as soon as it rebounded off the post. In 1987, the International Football Association Board clarified Law 14, covering penalty kicks, to support Igna's decision.
  9. Teams take turns to kick from the penalty mark, until each has taken five kicks. However, if one side has scored more goals than the other could possibly reach with all of its remaining kicks, the shoot-out immediately ends, regardless of the number of kicks remaining; this basis is called "best-of-five kicks". In the 2006 World Cup final, for example, the shoot-out ended after Italy's Fabio Grosso had scored his team's fifth, despite the fact that France still had one more shot to take. Similarly, in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Final, Gonzalo Montiel's successful conversion of Argentina's fourth kick won the trophy, despite France and Argentina both having one kick left.
  10. If after five rounds of kicks, the teams have scored an equal number of goals, additional rounds of one kick each are used until one team scores and the other misses. This is known as sudden death.
  11. The team that scores the most goals at the end of the shoot-out is the winner of the match.
  12. Only players who were on the pitch at the end of play or temporarily absent are allowed to participate in the shoot-out. If at the end of the match and before or during the kicks one side has more players on the pitch than the other, whether as a result of injury or red cards, then the side with more players must reduce its numbers to match the opponents; this is known as "reduce to equate". For example, if Team A has eleven players but Team B only has ten, then Team A chooses one player to exclude. Players excluded this way may take no further part in the procedure, either as kicker or goalkeeper, except that they can be used to replace a goalkeeper who becomes injured during the shootout. The rule was introduced by the International Football Association Board in February 2000 because previously an eleventh kick would be taken by the eleventh player of a full-strength team and the first player of a sub-strength team. A rule change in 2016 eliminated the possibility of a team gaining such an advantage if a player is injured or sent off during the shoot-out.
  13. A team may replace a goalkeeper who becomes injured during the shoot-out with a substitute or by a player previously excluded under the 'reduce to equate' provision.
  14. If a goalkeeper is sent off during the shoot-out, another player who finished the game must act as goalkeeper.
  15. If a player, other than the goalkeeper, becomes injured or is sent off during the shoot-out, then the shoot-out continues with no substitution allowed. The opposing team must reduce its numbers accordingly.
  16. Any player remaining on the pitch may act as the goalkeeper, and it is not required for the same player to have acted as a goalkeeper during the game.
  17. No player is allowed to take a second kick until all other eligible players on their team have taken a first kick, including the goalkeeper.
  18. If it becomes necessary for players to take another kick, players are not required to kick in the same order.
  19. Kicks from the penalty mark must not be delayed for a player who leaves the field of play. The player's kick is forfeited if the player does not return in time to take a kick.
  20. The referee must not abandon the match if, during the kicks, a team is reduced to fewer than seven players.