The 2026 World Cup featured a penalty shootout for the first time, and it’s a departure from history… Germany lost.
It was dramatic, exciting, emotional and, as always on the one hand, extremely cruel.
It was the first time German players had felt the pain of losing a penalty shootout at a World Cup, but there are hundreds of players who felt the devastation of losing a penalty to the goalkeeper from 12 yards. A few hours later it was the Dutch’s turn.
Over the years, the game has changed the rules of how extra time works: instant wins and losses after a golden or silver goal made a draw possible to win at half extra time, while the number of penalties remained largely the same.
But is there a better way to do this? A fairer way? A more appropriate skills test?
We asked our writers and here’s what they said.
Just keep playing
I am for the Golden Goal format to return to extra time. Additional sudden death periods where both teams compete until a goal is scored. You can force teams to play 15-minute halves, as we already do now. If neither team scores a goal in any period, you can continue playing until someone scores.
Many North American sports leagues such as the NHL, NBA, MLB and even the WNBA have some form of continuous overtime. During NHL playoff games, teams play overtime after overtime until a goal is scored. And the tension remains.
Jack Hughes celebrates his overtime goal at the Olympics (Elsa/Getty Images)
Previous concerns were that teams would play too defensively and try to take the game to penalties. But if you remove penalties as an insurance policy, you force teams to play to win. Not to mention that you get a result that is a product of the game. This is in contrast to penalty kicks, in which the championship can be determined by the results of the penalty shootout competition.
And if you’re so worried about teams still trying to get too defensive in extra time, encourage teams to push the ball forward on their end. Similar to the backcourt violation in basketball, perhaps teams need a rule like this. But more importantly, scoring a golden goal in football guarantees an exciting finale for everyone.
Julian Mackenzie
Add free kicks
To be honest, I really like penalty shootouts and I truly believe it is the best way to separate two teams after 120 minutes. I’m familiar with and sympathize with the arguments about regulating games on the field, but what if two teams teamed up to create a game that no one really wants to watch anymore? It’s rare for a match of true quality to last this long; It feels like the opposite is more often the case.
So, no revolution on my part, but if we had to make a change, I would recommend a version of the game that many of us played as children. One penalty, two free throws from anywhere on the D arc, and then a shot from each corner of the box. Kicks will be performed alternately, as they are now, and all elements of the existing gunplay will remain, with only minor variations.
Interestingly, many football content creators create videos in this format, so while it may not be a worthwhile endeavor, it could also be a tick in the ‘younger generation’ box that football is so excited about.
Seb Stafford-Bloor
Smaller game, remove players as you go
“But in football you can’t play 3-on-3 overtime. The field is too big!” Sir, please sit down. This is my Wendy. The answer is a hybrid of college football and the NHL, with a little pickup in the backyard. And punishment.
Reduce the step to half. We play 5 on 5 (plus goalies) and we have 15 minutes to score. After 15 minutes we switch sides so every fan in the stadium can get a good look and play for another 15. The final score is the final score. Everyone is tired and irritated. Two players retired in protest. But we have a winner.
Still tied after 30? Go 4 by 3 and go again. Still nothing? Let’s move on to a 3v2 game. Draw after 180 minutes? Both teams are eliminated from the tournament for incompetence.
A little artificial, of course. But much less than a penalty, which is essentially a coin toss with boots on. At least it still feels a little like football. And there are active consequences for wasting time!
Patrick Iversen
The same, but more
I like where Patrick’s head is. I don’t think that’s realistic, but I think there is a realistic version that would still be much more acceptable than fines.
Go back to the golden goal—sudden death in American sports parlance—and start overtime at 10 vs. 10. If no one scores in the first 15 minutes, go to 9 vs. 9. Fifteen minutes later, 8 vs. 8, and so on.
Don’t narrow the field. Each time a player is sent off, space opens up and a decisive goal becomes more likely, so player fatigue is not a big issue. (And if that bothers you, just allow an extra sub every 15 minutes so that if it drops to 7-on-7 or 6-on-6, everyone on the field who hasn’t played 90 minutes is replaced.)
Henry Bushnell
Judges’ verdict
Sepp Blatter, whose reputation has been vindicated by comparisons with the current FIFA regime, hatched many crazy ideas during his reign, such as a World Cup in space.
Another obsession of his was how to settle tied games. Not a fan of extra time, he achieved the “golden goal” in the 1998 and 2002 tournaments. But by 2006 we were back to extra time because everyone could see that the fear of conceding an early goal all but guaranteed a penalty shootout would be necessary.
However, Blatter was still unhappy. In 2012, after Chelsea beat Bayern Munich on penalties to win the Champions League, he asked the head of FIFA’s football working group, Franz Beckenbauer, who also happened to be Bayern’s honorary president, to come up with an alternative to the “tragedy” of the shootout.
Der Kaiser’s report must be sitting on a dusty shelf in Zurich somewhere, as I don’t recall any debate about the great ideas he found to replace the PC. Hockey-style shootouts? Tried them. Progressive player removal? Tried this too. Coin toss? Okay… but yeah, we tried that too.
So the answer is almost certainly… a penalty shootout is the best way to do it. And guess what? The audience loves them!
But if you absolutely must have an alternative, I suggest having a panel of Olympic figure skating style experts (probably journalists) giving scores out of 10. They can also give up to 90 minute final scores on boring games to help with late deadlines.
Matt Slater
Let SkyJo handle it
Each national team spends its time differently. Some play darts. Others, like England now, play SkyJo, an addictive card game that I’m very good at. I propose that after 120 minutes the judge tosses a coin. Whoever chooses heads can propose an alternative game of his choice. If it came down to it, I’d be happy for England to submit me to SkyJo, having beaten Julien Laurens, James Richardson and Raphael Honigstein to submission on several ski trips. This is how England won the World Cup.
James Horncastle
35 yard run
Penalty shootouts aren’t entirely satisfactory, but at least the current system allows more time to try to decide the outcome of the game and then, after 120 minutes, test nerves and technique. It’s not broken, so I don’t see any particular need to fix it.
But the only alternative I like is the hockey-style penalty shootout that Major League Soccer used in its early years. Players started 35 yards from the goal and had five seconds to try to beat the opposition goalkeeper, regardless of whether they wanted to kick early or dribble. When I saw it in the late 1990s, I hoped it would become more widespread. Instead it was thrown out, which is strange because unlike many of the things we tend to think of as “American” impositions on football – leveraged takeovers, drinking breaks in air-conditioned stadiums on a cool day – it was actually a good idea.
Oliver Kay
Golden goal with a reduced number of players
I never understood the debate about fines. It’s part of the game, and if you don’t think it’s the right way to decide a match, then you never accepted it. In the US, this is often seen as a cop-out, as if it goes against sports ethics. Some detractors (whether American or not) believe that punishments are easy and that no one should ever miss them.
It’s hard to accept when the team I support loses on penalties. But this is football. But I will take part in this exercise.
If I had to choose an alternative, I would go back to the golden goal rule. And in hindsight, I would have been willing to remove one player (maximum two players) from each team after the first overtime period to increase the likelihood of a winning goal. After all, penalties are a football heritage.
Felipe Cardenas
Sending off players during extra time
Like many of my colleagues, I love penalties. Of course it hurts if you’re a fan of the losing side. But this is the ultimate test of fortitude. As a player, you are on your own, trying to score for your country. As a goalkeeper, you are trying to seize the moment and make a save that can be the difference between victory and defeat.
If I had to make an adjustment to this exercise, I would remove players at certain intervals during the 30-minute extra time. Eventually you’ll get to seven on seven, and that’s where I’d stop.
This will widen the field, create more scoring opportunities for players and reduce the chance of penalties.
However, I don’t want the fines to go away. I love the drama it provides and the contrasting emotions of euphoria on the winning side and heartbreak on the losing side.
Lucas Wiese
Save the penalty, refuse extra time
A penalty is a great way to decide the outcome of a match, the main test of nerves, character and skill, leave it alone! There are many things that can be considered unfair or imperfect to decide the outcome of a match in open play; a wrongful rejection here, a minor judicial decision there.
I have a much bigger problem with extra time, which is often lifeless, warped by too many substitutions, overly fearful of mistakes and generally giving the so-called stronger team a chance to correct the shortcomings of the first 90 minutes. (Of course, this did not happen in Germany’s match against Paraguay, where the Germans played just as unimpressively in extra time as in regular time). Personally, I would shorten the length of the extra-time halves or do away with them altogether and go straight to penalties, although I would be aware that this would run the risk of games becoming very cautious in normal time.
Adam Crafton
Running race?
Especially for the US-Bosnia Round of 32 game, I’m proposing something more exciting than a penalty: a 100m sprint between 40-year-old Edin Dzeko and 38-year-old Tim Ream. Maybe first we’ll tackle the Powerade sponsored ad as if it ruins hydration.
Tom Bogert
Eating contest?
A penalty shootout is obviously the best solution. No one can pull me off this hill.
But if there had to be another way, it would have to be two designated players sitting at a table in the center circle and having them take turns eating chicken wings. Some have a subtle lemon and herb dressing. Some suffocated in this nuclear tremor, the equivalent of a bachelor party. The game continues until someone leaves the game. Let’s call it Russian roulette for Generation Z.
Marko Arnautovic from Austria is your nightmare opponent. The Scottish bonnets did not touch the sides. FIFA could also work with hydration breaks (*cough* commercial breaks). Let’s get to it.
Phil Hay