Lionel Messi scored his second goal of the game in the 108th minute. Kylian Mbappe converted the penalty to complete his hat-trick 10 minutes later. And there was still time for Randal Kolo Muani to deny the winner thanks to a superb save from Emiliano Martinez.
It all happened during extra time of the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar between France and Argentina. After the 90-minute match ended 2-2, football began to break the deadlock, creating a 120-minute spectacle that showcased the sport’s global pinnacle.
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup knockout stages now approaching, games will no longer be able to go to completion and an extra 30 minutes of play will be added to find a winner. If it doesn’t work, as it did in Qatar, then it’s time for a penalty shootout.
So, how does extra time pass and is it always fun?
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What is extra time?
Extra time is provided in knockout matches when there is no winner within 90 minutes of regular play.
“Overtime” in football is a 30-minute period of extra play divided into two 15-minute halves, which may also include stoppage time at the end of each of those halves.
Midway through extra time, teams switch sides in the same way as between halves of 90-minute matches, and are given an additional substitution for that half-hour period, meaning that six substitutions can be made over the course of a possible 120-minute match.
If the score remains level after extra time, the game goes to penalties, with five players from each side taking turns taking five penalties for each team. If the match is still a draw after this, the penalty shootout becomes a “sudden death” – the first team to score a penalty when the opponent does not win or progress (or, if it is in a final, do not lift the trophy).
Mario Gotze scores Germany’s winning goal in extra time against Argentina in the 2014 World Cup final (Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Getty Images).
Extra time and penalties are not needed in group stage matches as points can be split, one each, if the teams are level at the end of 90 minutes, but once the knockout stage begins there must always be a winner on the day.
Thirty minutes is more than is used in major North American sports leagues: the NHL has a five-minute overtime for sudden death, the NBA plays five-minute overtime until one side leads when one runs out, the NFL opts for 10 minutes of follow-up, and MLB goes into extra innings.
Is this different from stoppage time?
Yes.
Stopped time or stoppage time, known to many as injury time, is a period of play added to each regular half of football to make up for minutes lost in the half due to substitution windows, goal celebrations, waste of time and treatment of injured players. And now, before this World Cup, hydration is compromised.
At the end of the main 45 minutes, the fourth referee on the touchline holds up an electronic scoreboard on which the minimum number of added minutes is lit. If further delays occur during these minutes, the added time will be extended beyond this original figure.
At the previous World Cup in 2022, world football governing body FIFA’s chief referee Pierluigi Collina sought to eradicate time wastage by instructing officials to add more time than usual as matches lasted more than 100 minutes on average.
He would have seemed to relent before this tournament, but the introduction of mandatory three-minute hydration breaks for teams in the middle of each half, when the clock does not stop, meaning that time must be added at the end, has resulted in stoppage times lasting longer than usual.
Where did the idea for extra time come from?
The first major football match to use extra time was the 1875 FA Cup Final in England, where Royal Engineers and Old Etonians drew 1–1. Penalty shootouts had not yet been introduced, so the final was replayed in its entirety three days later, with the Engineers winning 2–0.
In the World Cup since its inception in 1930, extra time has been used to achieve a positive result in tied play-off matches, with games initially replayed if the score remained level after 120 minutes. Replays were infrequent: only four occurred before penalty shootouts were introduced in the 1970 tournament.
FIFA tried to shake up extra time by introducing the “golden goal” rule in 1993, under which any goal in extra time meant the match ended immediately, with the team that scored it being declared the winner.
The purpose of this change was to make extra time more interesting and less defensive. The reality was that teams were more afraid of losing because of a single mistake: at the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, only four goals were scored when the golden goal was established. Defender Laurent Blanc was the first player to score as hosts France beat Paraguay in the round of 16 in the first stage.
🗣️ “I had no business being there, but the time comes when you have to try and take responsibility.”
🪙 Laurent Blanc scored the first golden goal in #WorldCup history from 7 yards and took 🇫🇷 @FrenchTeam to the quarterfinals pic.twitter.com/nmLiV9blMr
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup), June 28, 2020
But the most famous golden goal perhaps belongs to Oliver Bierhoff, who won the 1996 European Championship final for Germany against the Czech Republic five minutes before extra time. Four years later, in the next Euro final, France beat Italy using the same method, with David Trezeguet scoring in the 103rd minute.
🏆 Who scored your favorite EURO winning goal?
⏪🇩🇪 Revisiting Oliver Bierhoff’s golden goal in the 1996 EURO final ✅ pic.twitter.com/QiZIx4FjkL– EURO (@UEFAEURO) March 12, 2021
Following backlash over its use in these tournaments and other competitions around the world, FIFA reinstated the traditional extra-time rules at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
FIFA also tried out the “silver goal” around the world: if a team was in the lead after the first 15 minutes of extra time, it won the match but never reached the World Cup, and FIFA decided that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
How common is extra time?
In the last three tournaments, 17 knockout matches went to extra time – 35 percent of all possible matches.
Of the 22 World Cup finals, eight have gone to extra time, including three of the last four. Andres Iniesta brought Spain the league title in 2010, Mario Gotze scored for Germany to win the 2014 championship, and the 2022 final ended in a penalty shootout, which Argentina won 4–2.
Andres Iniesta scores the winning goal for Spain in the 2010 World Cup final (Jeff Mitchell – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
England have extra time to thank for their only World Cup success: Geoff Hurst scored twice in an extra 30 minutes to complete a hat-trick – the only player to do so in a final until Mbappe matched him in Qatar – as they beat West Germany 4-2 at Wembley Stadium in 1966.
With the number of knockout ties doubling from the previous 16 to 32 in this tournament, extra time is likely to be seen more often than ever at the World Cup.
Is it really entertaining?
It was hit and miss. Of the 17 games that went to overtime, only five ended with a victory in the extra period of play. Fifteen goals were scored in extra time in these matches, but no goals were scored in 10 matches.
Extra time is always either exciting or frustratingly boring.
This leads to fatigue as some players strive for 120 minutes of play and a slower pace, and as with the golden goal, those 30 minutes can lead to teams playing with a fear of defeat rather than a desire to win, but if one side or the other does make a breakthrough into extra time, it really ups the ante.
Only twice in those 17 matches has a single goal been scored in extra time, and that final in Qatar showed what a spectacle the extra 30 minutes can be if they get going.
It may be monotonous or important, but with a penalty shootout ahead if the score remains level, football’s way of breaking a deadlock always leaves one feeling inspired by the end.