Penalty Shoot-out (association Football) - Overview

Overview

During a shoot-out, players other than the kicker and the defending goalkeeper must remain in the centre circle (other than the kicking team's goalkeeper, who stands on the junction of goal line and penalty area near to the assistant referee).

Goals scored during the shoot-out are not included in the final score, nor are they added to the goalscoring records of the players involved.

Generally, shoot-outs are used only in knockout "cup" ties, as opposed to round-robin "leagues". The shoot-out thus decides who will progress to the next stage of a tournament, or who will win it. Usually extra time has been played first; exceptions include the Copa Libertadores, the FA Community Shield and the Football League Trophy, both of which use shoot-outs straight after the end of normal time.

Exceptionally, a shoot-out after a league match may be provided for, in the rules for the group phase of multi-round tournaments: if the opposing teams in a final-day match finish the group with identical records, they can immediately play a shoot-out. This happened in Group A of the 2003 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship. The prospect was discussed of this rule applying after the Turkey–Czech Republic match in Group A of Euro 2008, if it ended in a draw; in the event, Turkey won so no shoot-out was required. This rule is a 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 finishing their final-day match in a draw.

In the late 1980s, a number of European football leagues, including Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Norway, experimented with penalty shoot-outs immediately after drawn league matches, with the winner gaining one point more than the loser. This was soon abandoned. In the United States, 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 (see below). Similarly, Japan's J. League used shoot-outs after drawn games to determine a winner when that league began. These have also since been abandoned.