Football - Law 10

Penalty shootouts decide the winner, not a new match score.

A penalty shootout is football's tie-breaking procedure when a competition needs one team to advance or win after a drawn match. It is officially called penalties or kicks from the penalty mark, and it is separate from penalty kicks awarded for fouls during play.

Quick ruling: each team usually takes five alternating kicks from the penalty mark. If the teams are still level after five each, the shootout continues one kick at a time until both teams have taken the same number of kicks and one team is ahead.

Definition

What a penalty shootout is

A penalty shootout is a method for determining the winning team after a drawn match or tied two-leg contest when the competition rules require a winner. It is not ordinary match play. The match has already ended, so the shootout result is normally recorded separately from the score of the match.

The Laws of the Game allow competitions to use extra time, penalties, the away goals rule where still used, or a permitted combination of those procedures. That means the route to a shootout depends on the competition: some tied matches go straight to penalties, while others use extra time first.

Decision path

How the shootout works

The referee decides which goal will be used, unless safety, ground conditions, or the condition of the goal require a change.
The referee tosses a coin, and the captain who wins the toss chooses whether their team takes the first or second kick.
Only eligible players may take part, and the teams must have the same number of eligible players.
The teams take kicks alternately, normally up to five kicks each.
If one team becomes impossible to catch before all five kicks are taken, the shootout ends immediately.
If the score is level after five kicks each, kicks continue in sudden death: one kick per team until one team is ahead after the same number of kicks.

Eligible players

Who can take a kick

Only players who were on the field at the end of the match, or were temporarily off the field for a reason such as injury treatment or equipment adjustment, are eligible. A player who was sent off during the match cannot take part.

If one team has more eligible players than the other at the end of the match or during the shootout, it must reduce its numbers to match the opponent. The referee is told which players are excluded, and those players do not take kicks unless the goalkeeper replacement exception applies.

Kicking order

The referee is not told the order

Each team chooses its own kicking order. The referee does not need to know that order in advance. The important restriction is that every eligible player on a team must take a kick before any teammate may take a second kick.

After all eligible players have taken one kick, the same principle starts again for the next round. The team may change the order in later rounds, so the first player in the second cycle does not have to be the same player who took the first kick of the shootout.

No rebound

The kick ends when the chance is over

A shootout kick is not live in the same way as a penalty during normal play. The kicker cannot score from a rebound and cannot touch the ball a second time. The kick is complete when the ball stops moving, goes out of play, or the referee stops play for an offence.

That is why a shot saved onto the post and then back toward the goalkeeper can still be judged by whether the original kick's momentum carries the ball over the line. There is no follow-up shot by the kicker or any other attacker.

Goalkeepers

Goalkeeper rules still matter

The defending goalkeeper must follow the penalty-kick procedure. If the goalkeeper commits an offence and the kick has to be retaken, the goalkeeper is warned for the first offence and cautioned for any later offence in the shootout.

An eligible player may change places with the goalkeeper during the shootout. If a goalkeeper is unable to continue, replacement options are limited by the Laws and the competition's substitution rules. A sent-off goalkeeper must be replaced by an eligible player.

What changes it

Details fans miss most

The shootout can end before ten kicks: if one team cannot catch the other within the first five kicks each, no more kicks are needed.
Sudden death is still equal turns: one team does not win merely by scoring first after five kicks. The opponent must also have taken its matching kick.
Cards are handled separately: warnings and cautions from the match do not carry forward into the shootout, but misconduct during the shootout can still be punished.
Sent-off players are out: a player sent off during the match or shootout cannot take a kick.
Substitutes usually cannot join: except for the specific goalkeeper replacement rules, substitutes who were not on the field at the end of the match are not eligible.

Common argument

"The best taker should go again"

Not until every eligible teammate has taken a kick. A team cannot reuse its strongest taker while other eligible players have not yet taken one. Once all eligible players have kicked, the team can start a new sequence and may choose a different order.