Golden goal

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The golden goal or golden point is a rule used in association football, bandy, baseball, lacrosse, field hockey, ice hockey, floorball and korfball to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the end of normal time. It is a type of sudden death. Under this rule, the game will end when a goal or point is scored; the team that scores that goal or point during extra time will be the winner. Introduced formally in 1992, though with some history before that, the rule ceased to apply to most FIFA-authorized football games in 2004. The similar silver goal supplemented the golden goal between 2002 and 2004.

The golden goal is still used in NCAA matches and in FIH sanctioned field hockey games, as well as in FIRS sanctioned roller hockey games. A related concept, the golden point, is used in National Rugby League games. A similar golden goal rule is also used in all National Hockey League (NHL) overtime games (followed by a shootout if needed, in the regular season and preseason); however, the term "golden goal" is not used. A rule similar to the golden goal also applies in the National Football League (only if a touchdown or safety is scored first on the first possession), although again the term itself is not used.

Historical context[edit]

The rules of the first known organized inter-club tournament in any code of football, the Youdan Cup of 1867, featured a sudden-death rule. If scores were tied after 90 minutes, up to an hour of extra time was played, with the first team to score a goal or rouge being declared the winner.[1] This rule came into effect in the second round tie between Norfolk FC and Broomhall FC played on 23 February 1867, when Norfolk scored a goal after two minutes of extra time to win the match 1-0.[2]

A similar rule was used the following year in the Cromwell Cup, which like the Youdan Cup was played under Sheffield Rules. In the final of this competition, played at Bramall Lane, Sheffield in 1868, the deciding goal was scored by the then newly formed team called The Wednesday, now known as Sheffield Wednesday.[3]

The golden goal was introduced due to perceived failings of other means of resolving a draw (tie) in round-robin or knock-out tournaments where a winner is required. In particular, extra time periods can be tense and unentertaining as sides are too tired and nervous to attack, preferring to defend and play for penalties; whilst penalty shootouts are often described as based upon luck, and unrepresentative of football. FIFA introduced the golden goal rule in 1993. It was hoped that the golden goal would produce more attacking play during extra time, and would reduce the number of penalty shootouts.

Field hockey[edit]

International field hockey tournaments such as the Hockey World Cup and Champions Trophy had used golden goals to decide the winners of elimination matches. During these matches, two extra periods of ​7 12 minutes each were played, and if no golden goals were scored after both periods of extra time, a penalty stroke competition decided the game. FIH, the sport's governing body, did away with the overtime procedure in 2013, and now teams go directly to the shootout.

Ice hockey[edit]

A Golden Goal in ice hockey is often considered to be a Gold Medal winning goal in an International Ice Hockey Tournament, but certainly more celebrated and historically noted as a Golden Goal when done for the rarest of all gold medals, the Olympic Gold. In 2010 men's final, the most famous of these Golden Goals is when Sidney Crosby scored the game-winning goal 7:40 into overtime. Another famous one happened at the 2014 women's final, as Marie-Philip Poulin scored at 8:10 of overtime for Canada. In both instances, the team Canada beat was one of their arch rivals, the United States. What makes the Poulin goal especially famous is that she also scored the only two goals in a 2-0 shutout win over the U.S. in the Gold Medal Game four years earlier in Vancouver 2010. That gives Marie a rare two Olympic game winning goals, two Golden Goals. A feat some say may never be done again by any one player male or female being that the Olympics only happen every 4 years.

American football[edit]

The National Football League introduced sudden death during the regular season in the NFL in 1974 and had always had it in its playoffs. Like the NHL, the NFL's rule comes into use at the end of regulation of any regular season game. Until 2011, it applied for playoff games as well. A new "quarter" is started, with a kickoff. Whichever team scores first—either through a field goal or through a touchdown, or far more rarely a safety—wins the game and the game ends. Since 2017 in the preseason and regular season, teams are given a "fifth quarter" of 10 minutes to decide the game. Originally if neither team scored after 15 minutes the game ended in a tie. Since the 2012 season, each team gets one possession to score, unless one of them scores a touchdown or safety on its first possession. Sudden death rules apply if both teams have had their initial possession and the game remains tied. If after the OT period it remains tied during that time, the game still ends.

Because this presents a significant advantage to the team winning the coin toss to decide who receives the first overtime possession, the NFL moved in 2011 to require that if both teams have not had possession of the ball prior to the first score, then the team who does have possession must score a touchdown to end the game, preventing the team winning the coin toss from making a much shorter drive down the field and kicking a "golden goal" without the other team having a chance to touch the ball. Making the longer drive downfield and scoring a touchdown still ends the game immediately. This applied first in the postseason and later was adopted in the 2012 season. During the postseason, multiple 15-minute overtime "quarters" can be played until either team scores. The record for a number of overtimes in a professional football game is three, when on June 30, 1984, the Los Angeles Express defeated the Michigan Panthers, 27–21, in the 1984 USFL playoffs.[4]

The NFL is the only American football league that currently uses the golden goal. Most levels of football, including high school, college, most indoor leagues, and Canadian football, use a system known as the "Kansas Playoff" that more closely resembles baseball innings or penalty shootouts. Some professional leagues, such as the now defunct United Football League, used a system that guaranteed each team had a possession before switching to sudden death.


In baseball, a rule exists where if the home team enters the bottom of the 9th inning or later and does not have the lead (the game can be tied or they could be trailing), yet manages to procure the lead in that inning, the game is immediately over, no matter how many outs have been made. This is called a walk-off.

Rugby league[edit]

A "Golden point" system, whereby a rugby league game whose 80 minutes have ended in a draw is decided by whichever team scores the first point (by whatever means) during a period of extra time is the winner. It was first used in 1997's Super League Tri-series.

Australian rules football[edit]

Prior to a rule change in 2016, the Australian Football League (AFL) replayed the entire AFL Grand Final if the game was tied at the end of regular time. This was known as a grand final replay and occurred three times in the AFL (1948, 1977, 2010). Because of the inconvenience of this, from the 2016 AFL season onwards drawn grand finals are now resolved with two five-minute periods of extra time; if the scores are still tied at the end of the extra time period, play will continue until the next score.[5]

Association football[edit]

Although the golden goal format was used in North American professional association football leagues as early as the 1970s, the term golden goal was introduced by FIFA in 1993 along with the rule change because the alternative term, "sudden death", was perceived to have negative connotations. In a knockout competition, following a draw, two fifteen-minute periods of extra time are played. If either team scores a goal during extra time, the game ends immediately and the scoring team becomes the winner. The winning goal is known as the "golden goal". If there have been no goals scored after both periods of extra time, a penalty shoot-out decides the game. The golden goal was not compulsory, and individual competitions using extra time could choose whether to apply it during extra time. The first European Championship played with the rule was in 1996, as was the first MLS Cup that year; the first World Cup played with the rule was in 1998.

The first golden goal recorded was on 13 March 1993 by Australia against Uruguay in a quarter-final match of the World Youth Championship. The first major tournament final to be decided by such a goal was the 1995 Football League Trophy, where Birmingham City beat Carlisle United 1–0, with a goal from Paul Tait,[6] followed by the 1996 European Championship final, won by Germany over the Czech Republic. The golden goal in this final was scored by Oliver Bierhoff. In MLS Cup 1996, Eddie Pope scored 3:25 into extra time as D.C. United beat the LA Galaxy 3–2. The first golden goal in World Cup history took place in 1998, as Laurent Blanc scored to enable France to defeat Paraguay in the Round of 16.

In a qualification game for the 1994 Caribbean Cup, Barbados deliberately scored a late own goal in a successful attempt to qualify for the finals by forcing golden-goal extra time against Grenada, as an unusual tournament rule stated that golden goals counted double in calculating goal difference. Needing a two-goal victory to qualify, Barbados found themselves 2–1 up with three minutes left of normal time. After the Barbadians scored an own goal to bring the scoreline level at 2–2, Grenada tried to score in either net while Barbados defended both goals for the final three minutes of normal time.[7] Barbados won the game in extra time and advanced to the next round.[8]

In 2000, France defeated Italy in extra time in the 2000 European Championship final when David Trezeguet scored a golden goal. France thus became the first holder of both the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship since West Germany in 1974.

The following year, Liverpool overcame Deportivo Alavés in the UEFA Cup Final with an own golden goal by Delfí Geli to make the score 5–4 to Liverpool.

The golden goal was used in the FIFA World Cup for the last time in 2002, when Turkey defeated Senegal in the quarter finals when İlhan Mansız scored what would be the final golden goal in male tournaments. However, the 2003 Women's World Cup final was decided by a golden goal as Germany defeated Sweden 2–1 with a header by Nia Künzer in the 98th minute. It was the last golden goal in FIFA Women's World Cup history.

FIFA World Cup Golden Goals

Scorer Time Representing Score Opponent Tournament Round Date
1 Laurent Blanc 114'  France 1–0  Paraguay 1998 Round of 16 28 June 1998
2 Henri Camara 104'  Senegal 2–1  Sweden 2002 Round of 16 16 June 2002
3 Ahn Jung-hwan 117'  South Korea 2–1  Italy 2002 Round of 16 18 June 2002
4 İlhan Mansız 94'  Turkey 1–0  Senegal 2002 Quarter-finals 22 June 2002

FIFA Confederations Cup Golden Goals

Scorer Time Representing Score Opponent Tournament Round Date
1 Harry Kewell 92'  Australia 1–0  Uruguay 1997 Semi-finals 19 December 1997
2 Cuauhtemoc Blanco 97'  Mexico 1–0  United States 1999 Semi-finals 1 August 1999
3 Thierry Henry 97'  France 1–0  Cameroon 2003 Final 29 June 2003

Silver goal[edit]

For the 2002–2003 season, UEFA introduced a new rule, the silver goal, to decide a competitive match. In extra time the team leading after the first fifteen-minute half would win, but the game would no longer stop the instant a team scored. Competitions that operated extra time would be able to decide whether to use the golden goal, the silver goal, or neither procedure during extra time.

On 27 August 2003, Dutch club Ajax qualified for the group stage of the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League by virtue of the silver goal against Austrian club GAK after the two legs finished 1–1 each after 90 minutes. In extra time, Ajax was able to take advantage of GAK having two players sent off when Tomáš Galásek scored from a penalty in the 103rd minute.[9]

Less than a year later on 1 July 2004, Galásek would be on the field when the silver goal was featured in the only major competitive match to be decided by a silver goal: that of the semi-final match at Euro 2004 between Greece and the Czech Republic. However, the silver goal would eliminate the Czech Republic as Traianos Dellas scored for Greece after a corner kick in the last two seconds of the first period of extra time.[10] As well as being the only silver goal ever seen in an international match, it was also the only goal Dellas ever scored in his international career.


Although both the golden goal and silver goal had their fans, both were also widely perceived as failed experiments. The golden goal in particular had not brought about more active and attacking play as originally intended and instead led to more cautious play along with furious angry reactions from a lot of players on the losing side, while there was also confusion about when events could choose among several different extra time rules.[11] The golden goal in the Euro 96 final was controversial, as the Czechs, who were on the losing side argued that the Germans' winning goal was offside. The silver goal has been called illogical in that it denies the losing team the chance of saving the match simply by virtue of when the goal is scored, a point best illustrated in the Euro 2004 semi-final: if the Greek goal had been scored in the first minute of the second half of extra time, the Czechs would have had nearly 15 minutes to attempt to score the equaliser. Furthermore, one team could benefit unfairly from the conditions, such as if a strong wind aided one side.[12]

In February 2004, the IFAB announced that, after Euro 2004, both the golden goal and silver goal methods would be removed from the Laws of the Game. Since the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, the golden goal has never been used in the event of a drawn match during the knockout stage,[13] as FIFA restored the original rules: in the event of a drawn game after the original 90 minutes, two straight 15-minute periods of extra time are played. If scores remain level, the winner is decided by a penalty shoot-out.[14]

The golden goal rule is still utilised in NCAA soccer championship tournaments. The championship games of the 1995, 1996, 2002, and 2013 women's tournaments were decided by a golden goal; this situation also happened in the men's tournament in 2017.


  1. ^ "Sheffield: Youdan's Football Cup". Sporting Life: 1. 1867-02-20.
  2. ^ "The Youdan Prize for Football". Sheffield and Rotherham Independent: 10. 1867-03-02.
  3. ^ "Garrick F.C." Archived from the original on 2011-05-14. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
  4. ^ "USFL's Greatest Game". Remember the USFL. Archived from the original on May 19, 2012. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  5. ^ Twomey, Callum (19 April 2016). "No more Grand Final replays". Australian Football League. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  6. ^ "Fry's delight as Carlisle succumb to sudden death". The Independent. 24 April 1995.
  7. ^ "Football Follies". July 6, 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
  8. ^ The Barbadian, January 3 2008, p5
  9. ^
  10. ^ "UEFA EURO 2004 - History - Greece-Czech Republic –". UEFA. 1 July 2004.
  11. ^ (1 March 2004). "Footballing world cheers end of golden goal".
  12. ^ "Time running out for silver goal".
  13. ^ 2006 World Cup drops golden goal Archived 2006-06-01 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ "FIFA Rules".

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