How Penalty Shootouts Work: Rules, Psychology and Famous Moments

No other moment in team sport isolates a single individual quite like the penalty shootout. In the space of a few seconds, after the whistle blows to start the run-up, the outcome of an entire match — and sometimes an entire season — rests on the actions of one person against one other person. The rest of the squad can only watch. Understanding how shootouts actually work, and why they are so psychologically punishing, adds an extra dimension to watching them unfold.

When Are Shootouts Used?

Penalty shootouts are only used in knockout competitions — cup tournaments, European competitions, and playoff finals — where a winner must be determined on the day. They are never used in league football, where a draw is a perfectly valid result that earns a point for each team. In a knockout match that is level after 90 minutes, the teams proceed to extra time: two additional periods of 15 minutes each, 30 minutes in total. If the score remains level after extra time, the match is decided by a penalty shootout.

Some competitions — particularly in the early rounds of domestic cup competitions in some countries — proceed directly from 90 minutes to a shootout without extra time, to reduce fixture congestion. The Carabao Cup in England previously used this approach in some rounds.

The Rules of a Penalty Shootout

Under the Laws of the Game, a penalty shootout is conducted as follows:

• The referee tosses a coin. The winning team chooses which goal the penalties will be taken at; the losing team chooses which team takes the first kick.
• Each team nominates five penalty takers from the players on the pitch at the end of extra time. Substitutes who were not on the pitch at the final whistle cannot take part unless a goalkeeper is injured during the shootout.
• The two teams alternate kicks throughout the shootout. Nominated takers must take their kicks in the pre-declared order.
• If one team has taken five kicks and leads by a margin that cannot mathematically be closed by the other team completing their five, the shootout ends immediately.
• If scores are level after each team has taken five kicks, the shootout enters sudden death: each team takes one kick alternately. If one team scores and the other misses, the scoring team wins. This continues until a winner is determined.

The Rules for Kickers and Goalkeepers

During each individual penalty kick:

• All players other than the kicker and both goalkeepers must remain outside the penalty area and penalty arc until the kick is taken.
• The goalkeeper defending the kick must remain on the goal line, facing the kicker, between the posts, until the ball is kicked. They may move laterally along the line.
• The kicker must be clearly identified and must not change their approach or feint in a way deemed deceptive by the referee. A feint during the run-up is permitted; a deliberate stop or stutter of the kick itself is not.
• If the goalkeeper moves off the line before the kick is taken and the penalty is missed, the kick is retaken. If it is scored despite an infringement by the goalkeeper, the goal stands.

Conversion Rates and the Psychology of Shootouts

Penalty kicks in general play are converted at a rate of approximately 75–80

% at elite level. Shootout penalties show similar conversion rates, though the pressure of the high-stakes context means that even experienced international players miss kicks they would routinely score in training. Research in sports psychology has identified several factors that influence shootout success:

• Pre-commitment: Kickers who decide their target corner before beginning their run-up and commit to that decision, rather than changing their mind mid-approach, tend to perform more consistently. Hesitation — starting toward one corner and switching — is a common cause of poor contact or mis-direction.
• Walk speed: Studies have found that kickers who walk to the spot more slowly, taking their time, are more likely to score than those who rush. The slow walk is associated with composure rather than anxiety.
• Goalkeeper influence: Goalkeepers who move, gesture, or speak to the kicker before the kick can disrupt pre-commitment. Jerzy Dudek's dancing on the line during the 2005 Champions League final shootout against AC Milan is a celebrated example of this tactic.

England and the Penalty Shootout

England's relationship with penalty shootouts has been historically fraught. Between 1990 and 2012, England were eliminated from major tournaments by shootout on multiple occasions, including the 1990 World Cup semi-final against West Germany, Euro 1996 against Germany, the 1998 World Cup against Argentina, Euro 2004 against Portugal, and the 2006 World Cup against Portugal. The narrative of England "not being able to win a penalty shootout" became one of the most persistent tropes in English football culture.

The trend was decisively broken at UEFA Euro 2020 (played in 2021 due to the pandemic). England won a penalty shootout against Colombia at the 2018 World Cup, ending a losing run in senior international competition shootouts. At Euro 2020, England defeated Germany in the round of 16 without requiring extra time, but won their quarter-final on penalties. They reached the final at Wembley, where they lost to Italy in a shootout — but the trajectory of England's shootout performance had measurably changed, with the Football Association having invested heavily in specialist penalty training over several years.