Penalty shoot-out (association football)

Penalty shootouts, properly named kicks from the penalty mark, are a method sometimes used to decide which team progresses to the next stage of a tournament (or wins the tournament) following a draw in a game of football. Kicks during a shootout are governed by different rules from a penalty kick, which are part of normal play during a match.

Overview

Shootouts are almost always used only in knockout (as opposed to league) games, to decide who will progress to the next stage of a tournament, or who will win it. Usually extra time has been played first. However, the Copa Libertadores has a penalty shootout immediately after the end of a two-legged tie that is level on aggregate, with no extra time played. Since 2005, this takes place if there is no winner on away goals. In the late 1980s, a number of European football leagues, including Hungary, Yugoslavia and Norway, experimented with penalty shootouts 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 shootout immediately following the end of full-time, even during league matches. This has also since been abandoned.

Penalty shootouts do not follow the penalty kick law. However, they follow similar procedure to penalty kicks and are popularly referred to as "penalties". During a shootout, 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 shootout are not included in the final score, nor are they added to the goalscoring records of the players involved. Strictly speaking, kicks from the penalty mark do not result in a match winner. The match remains a draw and the result of the kicks is merely used to select a winner to progress to the next stage of the tournament (or win it in the case of the final). However, in popular usage a team is often said to have "won on penalties", and such matches have their result recorded as (for example): "Team A 2–2 Team B a.e.t, Team B won 5–4 on penalties". In some competitions (not FIFA or MLS), the final score is recorded as a one goal victory in favour of the team winning the shootout, although there is no official "match-winning goal." For example if a team wins a shootout after a scoreless game the final score would be reported as 1-0, regardless of how many shootout goals there were. This was MLS's practice in the years when shootouts decided every match. However, this is only done mainly at the high school levels now.

Procedure

The following is a summary of the procedure for kicks from the penalty mark:

• 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 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, 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.

In reality, goalkeepers seldom remain on the goal-line and move forward with the aim of reducing the angle of the penalty shot, therefore increasing their chance of saving the penalty, albeit unfairly. If the shot is saved, the referee can call for a retake of the penalty, but again, this seldom ever happens.

• Each kicker can kick the ball only once per attempt. If the ball is saved by the goalkeeper the kicker cannot score from the rebound (unlike a normal penalty kick). Similarly, if the ball bounces off the goal posts, the kicker cannot score from the rebound (like a normal penalty kick).
• Teams take turns to kick from the penalty mark in attempt to score a goal, until each has taken five kicks. However, if one side has scored more goals than the other could possibly reach with all of their remaining kicks, the shootout 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 goals, 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 take kicks. A substitution can only be made in the case of injury to a goalkeeper during the kicks, provided the team has not already used the maximum number of subsitutes allowed by the competition.
• No player is allowed to take a second kick from the penalty mark until all other players on his team (who have not received a red card) have taken a kick from the penalty mark (including the goalkeepers). However, 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 shall 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. Note that it is not allowed to deselect a goalkeeper from having to take part in kicking from the penalty mark. Players deselected cannot play any part in the procedure.

History

Knockout ties were previously decided by drawing of lots, for example in 1968 when Italy reached the European Championship Final against the USSR.

The penalty shootout is usually credited as the invention of former referee Karl Wald, from Frankfurt-am-Main [1]. When proposed in 1970, the Bavarian football association attempted to block the suggestion, and it was only when the majority of delegates said they were in favour that the officials gave their backing.

The actual first penalty shoot out recorded was between St Monica's and All Saints primary schools of Coatbridge in the Bishop Douglas cup final of 1967 and was initiated by William Docherty, head teacher of Xaverian College.

Shortly afterwards, the German football association followed suit and UEFA and FIFA also accepted the proposal[2].

Israeli Yosef Dagan is also claimed by some to have invented the method, after the Israel national football team was eliminated from the 1968 Summer Olympics semi-finals due to a coin toss.

Initially, teams did not alternate their kicks. One side kicked five times, followed by the other. The shootout ended as soon as the winner became obvious. In case of a draw, both teams had a second round of five kicks each until a winner was decided. Alternation was introduced by 1976.

In England, the first ever penalty shootout took place in 1970 between Hull City and Manchester United during the Watney Cup, and was won by Manchester United. The first footballer to take a kick was George Best, and the first to miss was Denis Law. Ian McKechnie, the Hull City goalkeeper was therefore the first goalkeeper to save a penalty in a penalty shootout and he too was the first goalkeeper to take the deciding kick and missed, blasting the ball over the bar and Hull City out of the Watney Cup.

The first major international tournament to be decided by a penalty shootout was the Euro 76 final between Czechoslovakia and West Germany. Czechoslovakia won 5–3, and the deciding kick was converted by Antonín Panenka with a "chip" after Uli Hoeneß had put the previous kick over the crossbar.

The finals of three major FIFA competitions have gone to penalty shootouts. The first two of these took place in the same stadium, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, USA.

• In the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Brazil and Italy ended extra time scoreless. Brazil went on to win the shootout 3–2. [3]
• Like the 1994 final, the 1999 Women's World Cup final between the USA and China was scoreless after extra time. The United States team won the shootout 5–4, with the winning shot by Brandi Chastain punctuated by her famous shirt-stripping moment. [4]
• The 2006 FIFA World Cup Final also went to a penalty shootout and was won by Italy 5-3 against France in Berlin. [5]

Goalkeepers have been known to win shootouts by their kicking. For example, in a Euro 2004 quarterfinal, Portugal goalkeeper Ricardo Pereira saved a kick (without gloves) from England's Darius Vassell, and then scored the winning shot. [6] Another example is Vélez Sársfield's José Luis Chilavert in the Copa Libertadores 1994 finals.

On 31 August 2005, a new British record was established when a shootout between Tunbridge Wells and Littlehampton Town involved 40 kicks being taken. [7]

In the FA Cup penalty kicks were introduced in the 1991–92 season to decide matches still level after a replay and extra time, replacing a series of replays that in the past had led to fixture disruption, especially disliked by the top clubs. Two first round ties that season became the first FA Cup ties to be decided on penalties (Rotherham United beat Scunthorpe United and Colchester United beat Exeter City).

A penalty shootout was first used in the FA Cup final in 2005, when Arsenal beat Manchester United 5-4. [8] The following year, Liverpool beat West Ham United in the FA Cup final's second ever penalty shootout. [9]

The Community Shield was also settled using penalties, following the normal 90 minutes of play, but no extra time. Manchester United have twice won the shield via a shootout, beating Arsenal in 2003 and Chelsea in 2007. On the latter occasion goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar saved three Chelsea penalties.

On 16 November 2005, a place in the World Cup was directly determined by a penalty shootout for the first time. The 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying playoff between Australia and Uruguay ended 1–1 on aggregate, with Uruguay winning the first leg 1–0 at home and Australia winning the second leg at home by the same score. A scoreless 30 minutes of extra time was followed by a shootout, which Australia won 4–2.

On 20 June 2007, a new UEFA record was established. The semi final of the European U21-championships in Heerenveen between The Netherlands U21 and England U21 finished in 1-1. 32 penalties had to be taken before the tie was decided. The Netherlands U21 won 13-12.

Statistics

Below are the overall penalty shootout records of national teams at major international tournaments, including:

• FIFA World Cup finals
• Continental championship finals (UEFA European Football Championship, Copa América, African Cup of Nations, AFC Asian Cup, CONCACAF Gold Cup, OFC Nations Cup)
• FIFA Confederations Cup

Records in qualification matches (such as Australia's victory over Uruguay in 2005) and minor tournaments are not counted.

The table is ordered by significant success rate (teams that participated in at least four penalty shootouts are shown at the top), followed by the number of shootouts won. This table is last updated in November 2007.

National team	World Cup (Won-Lost)	Continent (Won-Lost)	Conf. Cup (Won-Lost)	Total (Won-Lost)	% Won
Saudi Arabia	-	4-0	-	4-0	100%
Germany	4-0	1-1	-	5-1	83%
United States	-	4-11	-	4-1	80%
Colombia	-	3-12	-	3-1	75%
South Korea	1-0	4-23	-	5-2	71%
Argentina	3-1	2-2	1-0	6-3	67%
Brazil	2-1	3-2	-	5-3	63%
Egypt	-	3-2	-	3-2	60%
Nigeria	-	4-2	0-1	4-3	57%
Algeria	-	2-2	-	2-2	50%
Cameroon	-	3-3	-	3-3	50%
Ivory Coast	-	3-3	-	3-3	50%
France	2-2	1-1	-	3-3	50%
Uruguay	-	3-3	-	3-3	50%
Spain	1-2	1-1	-	2-3	40%
Tunisia	-	2-3	-	2-3	40%
Mexico	0-2	2-24	1-2	3-6	33%
Italy	1-3	1-1	-	2-4	33%
Iran	-	2-5	-	2-5	29%
Netherlands	0-1	1-3	-	1-4	20%
England	0-3	1-2	-	1-5	17%
Czechoslovakia	-	2-0	-	2-0	100%
Portugal	1-0	1-0	-	2-0	100%
Bahrain	-	1-0	-	1-0	100%
Belgium	1-0	-	-	1-0	100%
Bulgaria	1-0	-	-	1-0	100%
DR Congo	-	1-0	-	1-0	100%
Czech Republic	-	1-0	-	1-0	100%
Iraq	-	1-0	-	1-0	100%
Ukraine	1-0	-	-	1-0	100%
China	-	2-1	-	2-1	67%
Denmark	-	1-1	1-0	2-1	67%
Japan	-	2-1	-	2-1	67%
Burkina Faso	-	1-1	-	1-1	50%
Canada	-	1-1	-	1-1	50%
Ghana	-	1-1	-	1-1	50%
Honduras	-	1-15	-	1-1	50%
Republic of Ireland	1-1	-	-	1-1	50%
Kuwait	-	1-1	-	1-1	50%
Panama	-	1-1	-	1-1	50%
South Africa	-	1-16	-	1-1	50%
Sweden	1-0	0-1	-	1-1	50%
Thailand	-	1-1	-	1-1	50%
Australia	-	0-1	-	0-1	0%
Cambodia	-	0-1	-	0-1	0%
Chile	-	0-1	-	0-1	0%
Ecuador	-	0-1	-	0-1	0%
Gabon	-	0-1	-	0-1	0%
Jordan	-	0-1	-	0-1	0%
Libya	-	0-1	-	0-1	0%
Martinique	-	0-1	-	0-1	0%
Morocco	-	0-1	-	0-1	0%
Peru	-	0-1	-	0-1	0%
Senegal	-	0-1	-	0-1	0%
Switzerland	0-1	-	-	0-1	0%
Yugoslavia	0-1	-	-	0-1	0%
Paraguay	-	0-2	-	0-2	0%
Romania	0-2	-	-	0-2	0%
United Arab Emirates	-	0-2	-	0-2	0%

¹ 3-1 in Gold Cup, 1-0 in Copa América (as invited guest)
² 2-1 in Copa América, 1-0 in Gold Cup (as invited guest)
³ 3-2 in Asian Cup, 1-0 in Gold Cup (as invited guest)
⁴ 0-1 in Gold Cup, 2-1 in Copa América (as invited guest)
⁵ 0-1 in Gold Cup, 1-0 in Copa América (as invited guest)
⁶ 1-0 in African Cup of Nations, 0-1 in Gold Cup (as invited guest)

Criticisms and alternatives

Penalty shootouts have been seen as variously thrilling and as an unsatisfactory way to decide a football match. Various alternatives have been proposed.

Sudden death and silver goal (where the overtime was split into two 15-minute periods; if one team led after the first 15-minute period, the game ended) methods to encourage a result without resort to penalties have been tried. However, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) discontinued their use in 2004. These were not seen as a success, as they led to defensive play rather than encouraging the teams to try to score goals. The reason being that the fear of having a goal scored against them seemed more important than trying to score a goal themselves.

In the event of a draw, current alternatives to penalty shootouts include replaying (where possible) a match that has ended in a draw (as still occurs in the quarter-finals and earlier rounds of the English FA Cup).

Other suggestions have included using elements of match play such as most shots on goal, most corner kicks awarded, fewest cautions and sendings-off, or having ongoing extra time with teams compelled to remove players at progressive intervals (similar to regular season ice hockey in North America, where players play 4-on-4 (or 3-on-3) in the extra time). These proposals have not yet been authorised by the IFAB however, in June 2007 Sepp Blatter stated that he wants no more penalty shootouts in World Cup Finals.

American experiments

The North American Soccer League in the 1970s and then Major League Soccer in the 1990s experimented with a variation of the shootout procedure.

Instead of a straight penalty kick, the shootout started 35 yards from the goal and having five seconds to attempt a shot. The player could make as many moves in a breakaway situation in the five seconds, then attempting the shot. This procedure is similar to that used in an ice hockey penalty shot. As with a standard shootout, this variation used a best-of-five-kicks model, and if the score was still level, the tiebreaker would head to an extra round of one attempt per team.

This format rewarded player skills, as players were able to attempt to fake out goalkeepers in an attempt to make the shot, as in a one-on-one skills contest.

The MLS abandoned this experiment in 2000.

See also

• Penalty shootout —information on penalty shootouts in other sports.
• Penalty kick

Bibliography

• On Penalties by Andrew Anthony (ISBN 0-224-06116-X)

External links

• RSSSF — Penalty Shootout Trivia