The Ultimate Decider: How Football Settles a Draw

Football, like other sports, needs to have a way of settling a tie. In football, the game is played out for 90 minutes, and if the scores remain level, then the match is decided in alternative ways.

In league football, tied matches after 90 minutes are draws. That is to say, it is not necessary to seek a winner in the game, as the league points system awards both teams. One league point is given to both teams, and there is no extra time or penalty shoot-outs.

In cup games, however, things become tricky. The nature of cup competition is knockout, and as such, this means that there has to be one team progressing to the next round and one being eliminated. How to decide these knockout games is something that football (or the FIFA governing body) has experimented with.

FIFA has experimented with a Golden goal rule. This is where the first team to score in the extra period goes through automatically. This was first used in Euro 96, and the final was settled by a Golden Goal scored by Germany. However, it has its critics and often has not resulted in any goals during the extra time period.

UEFA also briefly experimentated with a Silver Goal rule. With this ruling, a team could win a match by scoring a Silver Goal in the first half of extra time. However, play continued in the end of the extra-time half to give a team a chance to equalize. A team ahead the end of the first half of extra-time won the match. Greece scored a Silver Goal to win a Euro 2004 semi-final.

If a cup match is tied after 90 minutes, then extra time is played. Extra time, as the name suggests, is time added to the match, and play continues as before. The time added amounts to 30 minutes, with two 15-minute halves.

If the scores remain level after extra time, then penalty shoot-outs are taken to decide the game. The penalty shoot-out gives both teams five penalty kicks; the team that scores the most wins the match. If this shoot-out remains level after five kicks, then sudden death penalties are taken with the first team to get ahead winning.

The penalty shoot-out is used universally if all else fails. Ultimately, it has decided a number of high-profile games. Two World Cup finals and the 2008 Champions League final are good examples.

It is worth noting that cup competitions can also have different structures, which can decide tied games. For example, the Champions League and UEFA Cup knockout ties are two-legged games, without any away goals. The two-legged nature of Champions League ties has resulted in fewer penalty shoot-outs.

In domestic cup competitions, like the FA Cup, there is only one leg. If this is tied after 90 minutes, then extra time will be played. There are no FA cup replays these days. A penalty shoot-out be held to settle the one FA Cup match.

The football World Cup has one-off games, and cannot afford replays or second-leg ties. In the knockout stages, penalties are used at the end of extra time in the original fixture if the scores remain level.

All things considered, the penalty shoot-out remains the only effective way to decide a tied knockout match. While some argue they involve luck, there is some skill behind the shootout, with teams with better keepers and forward players having an advantage. Some teams have better records than others do in these shoot-outs. At any rate, they are part of the modern game and will likely remain so unless FIFA can find something better.