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Uefa: Penalty shootout trial takes place in Euro Women's Under-17 semi-final

Last updated on .From the section European Footballcomments428

John Terry takes a penalty for Chelsea
Chelsea lost the 2008 Champions League final to Manchester United on penalties when taking them second

"Football is a simple game," Gary Lineker once said.

"Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and, at the end, the Germans always win," added the Match Of The Day presenter.

So when a new penalty shootout system was used for the first time in a competitive game on Thursday, it was perhaps unsurprising that it was a Germany side who came out on top.

European football's governing body, Uefa, is evaluating a new 'ABBA' penalty shootout system - rather than the traditional ABAB pattern, where one side always has the pressure of going second - to make them fairer.

It is trialling its use at both men's and women's European Under-17s tournaments currently taking place.

And it was at the women's competition - a semi-final between Germany and Norway on Thursday - that the chance to put it into use for the first time arose.

The Germans are famed for their penalty-spot prowess after winning five shootouts at major finals - although unusually they missed their first three spot-kicks.

Yet they were still able to beat Norway 3-2 to reach the final of the tournament in the Czech Republic.

The men's tournament in Croatia has not yet reached the knockout stage.

How does it work?

As the current system stands, teams take turns in a shootout, with the choice of who goes first decided by a coin toss.

For example, team A goes first, then team B, then team A again.

The new system is called sees team A followed by team B - before team B goes again. Team A would then get two successive penalties, a little like the tie-break in tennis, and so on until there is a winner.

A coin will still be tossed to decide who goes first.

Why is a change needed?

The idea is to stop the team going second having to always, potentially, play catch-up. The sport's rule-making body, Ifab, approved the trial after looking at the research that says the team taking the first penalty have an unfair advantage as they win 60% of shootouts.

"The hypothesis is that the player taking the second kick in the pair is under greater mental pressure," said Uefa.

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428 comments

  • Comment posted by Steve, at 18:57 3 May 2017

    This really doesn't need to be top priority.

    If they want to look at unfair rules, maybe start with the way the away goals rule still counts after extra time in the second leg of a tie.

    One of the teams had 90 minutes to score their away goals, the other gets 120. That's much less fair than this.

  • Comment posted by Baron_Blues_Legend_OBE, at 18:51 3 May 2017

    either way England will still lose

  • Comment posted by Ice Cool Jet, at 19:03 3 May 2017

    As a Scotland fan I've little to input into this discussion as we never seem to have the need for a game to go to a shoot out!

  • Comment posted by User0532541719, at 19:31 3 May 2017

    Abba - The Winner Takes It All

  • Comment posted by PranR17, at 18:57 3 May 2017

    @6 "What a total waste of time. Plenty of added confusion for absolutely no gain."

    It's not really that confusing though is it. Not a main priority but always good to make the game fairer in any way possible.

  • Comment posted by User0623424621, at 19:33 3 May 2017

    Sure they could do this -but here is a list of other things to change:
    1/ Diving/acting - immediate & retrospective punishments
    2/ Subs by teams in lead: Add a minute for every sub after 85 min
    3/ Off-side - somehow tech needs to be used - the linesman's job is often impossible
    and finally
    4/ Deliberate hand-balls off the line (a la Suarez) = goal!

  • Comment posted by BearMcRowdy, at 18:59 3 May 2017

    @6 waste of time perhaps. Perhaps not. But added confusion? Really now. If this concept is what people would find confusing then I suggest they may be rather empty in the brains department.

  • Comment posted by 220662, at 19:02 3 May 2017

    It's not that broken, but if you want to be more creative and entertaining for the crowd do like ice hockey and field hockey do and make the attacker run at the goal keeper....only for 'shootouts' not normal pens

  • Comment posted by Wachaza, at 21:05 3 May 2017

    How about, instead of changing penalties or single player kick offs, UEFA do something about racism? Getting banned for complaining about racist abuse shows how far UEFA's head is up it's collective colon and shows how meaningless their anti racist stance is.

  • Comment posted by Jay74, at 20:44 3 May 2017

    @98
    Create a super league system of 32 teams..
    People want to see more Barcelona v Man U...
    not diddy teams

    -------------------

    The reason Man U dont regularly play teams like Barcelona is because they are rubbish and don't qualify for the CL. It has nothing to do with the rules.

    No team should ever have entitlement.

  • Comment posted by Vano, at 19:58 3 May 2017

    Not a bad idea at all, ABBA. The change I would like to see most, is just to remove the standard 5 spot kicks and make the whole team (whoever is still on the pitch) take them and only go into sudden death if they cannot be separated after 11 penalties. Why not? It's supposed to be a team game after all, so make make the whole team take part in the shootout.

  • Comment posted by Y0U, at 19:16 3 May 2017

    Why not just go the full hog. Both teams take penalties at the same time using opposite sides of the pitch?

  • Comment posted by Eggieplant, at 21:47 3 May 2017

    1 - Play acting, faking injury, cheating.

    2 - Use of technology

    Far more important than the order of who takes penalties

  • Comment posted by eggymooo, at 23:37 3 May 2017

    ...and discount any penalty where the player starts his run, then stalls, then side-foots it into the corner because he made the keeper commit early - it's always the arrogant players like Ronaldo who do this. It's not smart, it's unsporting. Or if they do it, then allow the keeper to run off his line and kick them in the nuts.

  • Comment posted by User0151060888, at 21:27 3 May 2017

    Instead of dwelling on rare occasions maybe FIFA should introduce a TV ref, act against diving and cheating. Nothing has changed since the hand of god goal in 86.
    Most after game analysis focuses on incidents not skill. Come on sort it out!

  • Comment posted by This name is awaiting moderation, at 08:42 4 May 2017

    Forget the trivialities of penalties. Concentrate more on that poisonous infection, the divers. Spineless commentators and pundits call it 'being clever', or 'using his body well' or 'fooling' an opponent. It's of course none of these things. It's called

    CHEATING

    If teams don't want penalties (England are you listening?) then make sure you win the game!

  • Comment posted by D1710452610937, at 19:59 3 May 2017

    Maybe the current penalty system isn't perfect, but there's far more things with the game that need addressing more urgently

  • Comment posted by Atmekeyboard, at 19:07 3 May 2017

    Take the penalties first. It will then put more pressure on one team to try and win the actual game of football. You can still have extra time but simply know that a draw means the team who won the penalties will then win the game. Radical, but could mean more football is played.

  • Comment posted by Dan, at 19:07 3 May 2017

    Odd that the comments say it's not broken, the article states that those that go first win 60% percent of the time, that simply is broken. If something simple can be done that brings that figure closer to 50%, then it is literally fixing a broken system.

    It's great that this is being trialled, if it makes a positive impact to the game then how can anyone be against it?

  • Comment posted by User0623424621, at 22:53 3 May 2017

    re : 70 Why does everyone pick on Suarez (legend)? Because he single-handedly deprived the world of an African team being the first African semi-finalists at the World Cup. This through a calculated and deliberate professional foul aka cheating. And he bites. Several times. Nice.

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