Extra time and penalties rules: how knockout ties are decided

Extra time is never played in a league match: a draw is a draw and each team gets a point (see league tables explained). It's used only where the competition rules say a match must produce a winner:

• Single-match knockouts: cup ties, tournament knockout rounds and finals (World Cup, Euros, Champions League final).
• Two-legged ties: when the aggregate score is level after the second leg. Since UEFA abolished the away goals rule in 2021, a level aggregate in UEFA competitions goes straight to extra time in the second leg.

Some competitions skip extra time and go directly to penalties after 90 minutes. That's set by each competition, so check the rules for the specific cup.

• Length: two periods of 15 minutes, with only a short drinks break (no longer than one minute) between them. Each period can have stoppage time added.
• Substitutions: each team gets one extra substitute and one extra substitution window in extra time, whether or not it has used all its normal substitutes.
• No golden goal: if a team scores in the first minute of extra time, the match still runs the full 30 minutes. The golden goal (first goal wins) was used at tournaments in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and the short-lived silver goal (leader at the end of the first extra-time period wins) followed. Both were dropped in 2004.
• Cards and goals count as part of the match: an extra-time goal goes into the official score and the scorer's record.

The official name is "kicks from the penalty mark" (Law 10). The procedure:

1. Choosing the goal. The referee tosses a coin to choose which goal is used, unless there are safety or pitch reasons to pick one.
2. Choosing the order. A second coin toss: the winning captain decides whether their team kicks first or second.
3. Eligible players. Only players on the pitch at the end of the match (including extra time) can take part, plus any who were temporarily off injured. If one team has more players, it reduces its number to match the other.
4. Five kicks each, alternating. Teams take turns. If one team can no longer catch up (for example 3-0 after three kicks each), the shoot-out ends early.
5. Sudden death. If it's level after five kicks each, teams take one kick each until one scores and the other doesn't from the same number of kicks.
6. Everyone kicks once first. No player can take a second kick until every eligible teammate, goalkeeper included, has taken one.

A goalkeeper who is injured during the shoot-out can be replaced. Goals in the shoot-out don't count as match goals: a match that ends 1-1 after extra time and is won 4-3 on penalties is recorded as a 1-1 draw, with the winner going through on penalties.

The ABBA trial

Because research suggested the team kicking first wins more often, the IFAB approved a trial in 2017 of an "ABBA" order, like a tennis tie-break: A, B, B, A, A, B and so on. It was tested at UEFA youth tournaments and some English cup competitions, then dropped in 2018. Shoot-outs still use the simple ABAB order.

This is where many beginners lose a bet they thought they'd won. Most markets are settled on regular time: 90 minutes plus stoppage time, not extra time or penalties.

Other points to check in your bookmaker's rules:

• Goalscorer markets usually count only regular time, and shoot-out penalties never count as goals.
• Two-legged ties: a "to qualify" bet is about the whole tie, while 1X2 is about the single leg.
• Draw no bet on a 90-minute draw is void and your stake comes back, even if one team then wins in extra time; see draw no bet.

For the full explanation of how the match result market works, read 1X2 betting.

Draws are more common than many people expect, and in knockout football a 90-minute draw is a real, separate outcome. A team that's "favourite to qualify" can still be a poor bet on the 90-minute 1X2 if it's likely to be happy with a draw in the second leg. Look at how the tie is set up (first-leg score, home advantage in the second leg) and compare the 1X2 and "to qualify" prices. Our predictions and the Champions League page show current ties and prices, and the Champions League format guide explains how the knockout rounds work.