As the knockout stages of the 2026 World Cup are now upon us, games will no longer be able to finish level, with an extra 30 minutes of play tacked on to try to find a winner. If that does not work, as happened in Qatar, then it\u2019s time for a penalty shootout.<\/p>\n
So, how does extra time work, and is it always entertaining?<\/p>\n
Get free access to the most comprehensive World Cup coverage in The Athletic app<\/a><\/p>\n What is extra time?<\/p>\n Extra time occurs in knockout matches when the 90 minutes of regulation play fail to produce a winner.<\/p>\n Soccer\u2019s \u2018overtime\u2019 is a 30-minute period of extra play, divided into two 15-minute halves, which can also include stoppage-time add-ons at the end of each of those halves.<\/p>\n At the midway point of extra time, the teams swap sides just as they would between the halves of 90-minute matches, and they are granted an extra substitution for this half-hour period, meaning six changes can be made across the eventual 120-minute match.<\/p>\n If the scores are still level after extra time, the game goes to penalties, where five players from each side alternate taking an initial five spot kicks per team. If the match is still tied after that, the shootout becomes \u2018sudden death\u2019 \u2014 the first team to score with a penalty when the opponent doesn\u2019t wins and progresses (or, if it\u2019s in the final, lifts the trophy).<\/p>\n \n Mario Gotze scores Germany\u2019s extra-time winner against Argentina in the 2014 World Cup final (Simon Stacpoole\/Offside\/Getty Images).<\/p>\n Extra time and penalties are not needed in group-stage matches because points can be shared, one each, if the teams are level after 90 minutes, but once the knockout phase begins, there must always be a winner on the day.<\/p>\n Thirty minutes is longer than is used in the big North American sports leagues, with the NHL having a five-minute sudden-death add-on, the NBA playing five-minute overtime periods until one side is leading when one of them ends, the NFL opting for 10 minutes of further action and MLB going to extra innings.<\/p>\n Is this different to stoppage time?<\/p>\n Yes.<\/p>\n Stoppage or added time, known to many as injury time, is a period of play added to every regulation half of football, to make up for the minutes lost across the half because of substitution windows, goal celebrations, time-wasting and injured players receiving treatment. And now, as of this World Cup, hydration breaks.<\/p>\n After the regulation 45 minutes, the fourth official on the sideline holds an electronic board aloft with the minimum number of minutes to be added illuminated. If there are further delays during these minutes, stoppage time will be extended past this initial figure.<\/p>\n At that previous World Cup in 2022, global football governing body FIFA\u2019s referee chief Pierluigi Collina<\/a> aimed to eradicate time-wasting, instructing officials to add on more time than usual, seeing matches average more than 100 minutes.<\/p>\n He has seemingly mellowed for this tournament, but the introduction of mandatory three-minute hydration breaks<\/a> for the teams in the middle of each half, where the clocks don\u2019t stop, meaning this time must be tacked on at the ends, has seen stoppage time lasting longer than is conventional.<\/p>\n Where did the idea of extra time come from?<\/p>\n The first major soccer match to use extra time was the 1875 FA Cup final in England, where Royal Engineers and Old Etonians played out a 1-1 draw. Penalty shootouts had not yet been introduced, so the final was replayed in its entirety three days later, and the Engineers won 2-0.<\/p>\n The World Cup has used extra time to create a positive result in tied knockout-phase matches since its inception in 1930, with games initially going to a replay if the scores remained level after the 120 minutes. Replays weren\u2019t common \u2014 only four occurred before penalty shootouts were introduced at the 1970 tournament.<\/p>\n FIFA attempted to shake up extra time with the introduction of a \u2018golden goal\u2019 rule in 1993, with any goal in extra time signifying the end of the match immediately, with the team that scored it declared the winner.<\/p>\n The hope with this change was to make extra time more entertaining and less defensive. The reality was that sides were more scared of losing via a single error, with only four goals scored when \u2018golden goal\u2019 was in place at the World Cups of 1998 and 2002. Defender Laurent Blanc was the first player to get one, when hosts France beat Paraguay in the round of 16 at the former.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udde3\ufe0f \u201cI had no business being there, but there comes a time when you have to try and take responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n \ud83e\ude99 Laurent Blanc, from 7 yards out, scored the 1st Golden Goal in #WorldCup<\/a> history to power \ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7 @FrenchTeam<\/a> into the quarter-finals pic.twitter.com\/nmLiV9blMr<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) June 28, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n But the most famous \u2018golden goal\u2019 arguably belongs to Oliver Bierhoff, who won the 1996 European Championship final for Germany against the Czech Republic five minutes into extra time. Four years later, in the next Euros final, France beat Italy by the same method when David Trezeguet netted in the 103rd-minute.<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfc6 Who scored your favourite EURO-winning goal?\u2063![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/MARIO-GOTZE-2014-scaled.jpg\")
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\u23ea\ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddea Throwback to Oliver Bierhoff\u2019s golden goal in the EURO 1996 final \u2705 pic.twitter.com\/QiZIx4FjkL<\/a><\/p>\n
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