Penalty Shoot-out (association Football) - Procedure

Procedure

The following is a summary of the procedure for kicks from the penalty mark. The procedure is specified in FIFA's booklet Laws of the Game, not as one of the 17 numbered laws, but within the supplementary sections Procedures to Determine the Winner of a Match or home-and-away (pp. 54–56) and Additional instructions and guidelines for referees (p. 130).

• The team to take the first kick is decided by a coin toss and the referee chooses the goal at which the kicks are taken.
• All kicks are taken at one goal to ensure that both teams' kick-takers and goalkeepers face the same pitch irregularities (if any).
• All players other than the kicker and the goalkeepers must remain in the pitch's centre circle (see above).
• Each kick is taken in the general manner of a penalty kick. Each kick is taken from the penalty mark, which is 12 yards out from the goalmouth, with the goal defended only by the opposing goalkeeper. The goalkeeper must remain between the goal-posts on his goal-line until the ball has been kicked, although he can jump in place, wave his arms, move side to side along the goal line or otherwise try to distract the shooter.
• Each kicker can kick the ball only once per attempt. If the ball is blocked by the goalkeeper the kicker cannot score from the rebound (unlike a normal penalty kick). Similarly, if the ball bounces off the goal posts or crossbar, the kicker cannot score from the rebound.
• No other player on either team, other than the designated kicker and goalkeeper, may touch the ball.
• A kick is successful if, having been touched once by the kicker, it crosses the goal line without going out of play or touching any player other than the defending goalkeeper. The ball may touch the goalkeeper, posts, or crossbar any number of times before going into the net. 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 IFAB clarified Law 14, covering penalty kicks, to support Igna's decision.
• Teams take turns to kick from the penalty mark in attempt to put the ball into the net, until each has taken five kicks. However, if one side has scored more successful kicks than the other could possibly reach with all of its remaining kicks, the shoot-out ends regardless of the number of kicks remaining.
• If at the end of these five rounds of kicks the teams have scored an equal number of successful kicks, sudden death rounds of one kick each are used until one side scores and the other does not.
• Only players who were on the pitch at the end of play are allowed to participate in the shoot-out.
• A team may replace a goalkeeper who becomes injured during the shoot-out with a substitute, provided the team has not already used the maximum number of substitutes allowed by the competition (three).
• If a goalkeeper is sent off during the shoot-out, another player who finished the game must act as goalkeeper.
• 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.
• Any player remaining on the pitch may act as goalkeeper, and it is not required that the same player act as goalkeeper throughout the shoot-out.
• No player is allowed to take a second kick from the penalty mark until all other eligible players have taken a first kick, including the goalkeeper.
• If it becomes necessary for players to take a second kick (because the score has remained equal after all eligible players have taken their first kick), teams are not required to follow the same order of kickers as was used for the first kick.
• If at the beginning of kicks from the penalty mark one side has more players on the pitch than the other, then the side with more players must select an appropriate number of players who will not take part. For example, if Team A has 11 players but Team B only has 10, then Team A will choose one player who will not take part. Players deselected cannot play any part in the procedure: so a goalkeeper cannot be deselected from kicking while retained for saving. This applies whether players are absent through injury or being sent off. The rule was introduced by the IFAB in February 2000 because previously an eleventh kick would be taken by the eleventh (i.e. weakest) player of a full-strength team and the first (i.e. strongest) player of a sub-strength team. However, if a player is injured or sent off during the shoot-out, the same principle does not apply and the referee does not reduce the number of players on the opposing team.