Every four years, casual soccer fans find themselves in the market for a refresher on the intricacies of the FIFA World Cup’s rules and regulations. There’s the format itself, of course, spanning Group Play and the knockout stages and nearly requiring a corkboard and thread to keep track of. And then, there are the rules themselves.
A soccer game is technically 90 minutes long, but sometimes you get extra time on top of the stoppage time tacked on at the end. On top of that, the refs keep flashing these colored cards in the players’ faces. These are the moments when many part-time observers raise an eyebrow and look around for someone to fill them in on what, exactly, is going on. If that’s you, here’s everything you need to know about extra time and penalties work in the 2026 FIFA World Cup™.
Remember: You can watch all of the action on the pitch during the 2026 FIFA World Cup™ on DIRECTV!
World Cup™ Extra Time & Penalty Kick Shootouts: Quick Overview
The group stage is the friendly part of a World Cup. The knockouts are where it gets cruel: From that point on, somebody has to be eliminated.
If you’re tuning in for the 2026 FIFA World Cup™ and want to know exactly what happens when a knockout match is deadlocked, here’s how extra time, penalty shootouts, and knockout tiebreakers actually work — and why even 120 minutes still isn’t always enough.
- In the group stage, matches can end in a draw. Ties are sorted by points and tiebreakers, not by extra time.
- In the knockout rounds, every match must produce a winner. If things are tied after 90 minutes, the game goes to extra time.
- Extra time is two 15-minute halves (30 minutes total), played in full, there’s no sudden death or golden goal. A coin toss decides which team kicks first.
- If it’s still level after 120 minutes, a penalty shootout decides it: Five penalty kicks per team, alternating, then sudden death if it’s still tied.
- Teams get a sixth substitution if a knockout match goes to extra time, on top of the five allowed in regulation.
- At the 2026 FIFA World Cup™, extra time appears as early as the new Round of 32.
What Happens When a World Cup™ Knockout Game Is Tied?
When a World Cup knockout match is level after 90 minutes, it goes to 30 minutes of extra time, played as two 15-minute halves. If the teams are still tied after that, the match is decided by a penalty shootout.
Extra time only happens in the knockout rounds. Group-stage games are allowed to end in a draw where each team earns a point toward its standing. But once the tournament reaches its win-or-go-home phase, a match has to produce a winner, and that’s when extra time and penalty kicks come into play.
At the 2026 World Cup, the expanded format means the knockouts begin with a new Round of 32, so extra time can show up earlier in the tournament. In previous editions, the first knockout round was the Round of 16.
How Does Extra Time Work?
Extra time is an additional 30 minutes of play, split into two 15-minute halves with a short break before it begins and again when the teams switch ends at the halfway point. Crucially, both halves are always played in full.
That last point trips up newer fans who expect an American-style “overtime” that ends the instant someone scores. Soccer used to have something like that called the “golden goal rule,” where the first team to score in extra time won immediately. But that was abolished in 2004 after it was found to make teams play more cautiously. So today, even if a team scores in the first minute of extra time, the full 30 minutes are still played out.
Extra time has its own stoppage time tacked onto the end of each 15-minute period for any delays.
Do Teams Get an Extra Substitution in Extra Time?
Yes. In regulation, each team can make five substitutions (used within three stoppages). If a knockout match goes to extra time, each team is granted a sixth substitution and an additional window to use it. A concussion substitution is handled separately and doesn’t count against that total. With 26-player squads and a North American summer to contend with, that bench depth matters more than ever in 2026.
How Does a Penalty Shootout Work?
If the score is still even after the full 120 minutes, the match goes to a penalty shootout, soccer’s most nail-biting mechanism for settling games. Here’s how it works:
- The referee tosses a coin. The winner of the flip chooses which goal is used and whether to shoot first or second.
- Each team selects five players to take kicks, alternating one at a time from the penalty spot.
- Whichever team has scored more after five kicks each wins. A team can clinch it before all ten are taken if the result is already mathematically decided.
- If the teams are even after five kicks each, the shootout goes to sudden death: Each team takes one kick per round, and the first time one team scores and the other misses, it’s over.
Any player who was on the pitch at the end of extra time is eligible to take a kick, including the goalkeeper. Teams must keep cycling through eligible players before anyone can take a second kick in sudden death.
How Were Knockout Ties Decided Before Penalty Kicks?
Penalty shootouts feel like a feature as old as the sport itself, but they’re actually a relatively modern concept. Before they existed, World Cup knockout matches tied after extra time were settled by replaying the entire game on a later date or, more controversially, by drawing lots!
Deciding a World Cup match by random chance understandably didn’t sit well, and the shootout was adopted as a fairer, more decisive and more exciting alternative.
Famous World Cup™ Shootouts
The men’s World Cup title itself has been decided by a penalty shootout three times and each one is burned into the sport’s memory:
Brazil vs. Italy, 1994 Final
The first World Cup final ever decided on penalties ended with Italy’s Roberto Baggio, the tournament’s star, skying his kick over the bar, handing Brazil its fourth title at the Rose Bowl in California.
Italy vs. France, 2006 Final
Italy outlasted France 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw, in a final remembered more for Zinedine Zidane’s red card for a headbutt than it was for the final score.
Argentina vs. France, 2022 Final
Widely considered one of the greatest finals ever played, Argentina and France drew 3-3 through extra time before Argentina won the shootout. Goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez’s heroics handed Lionel Messi the one trophy that had eluded him.
What’s New for Deciding Games at the 2026 World Cup™?
The deciders themselves (extra time, then penalties) are unchanged, but IFAB, the body that writes soccer’s laws, approved a package of rules for 2026 aimed at speeding up play. These rules will affect the tense, clock-watching moments late in knockout games:
- The eight-second goalkeeper rule: keepers can’t hold the ball for longer than eight seconds. A referee can start a visual five-second-style countdown if the keeper is taking too long. Stalling hands a corner kick to the opponent.
- The 10-second substitution rule: a player being subbed off has 10 seconds to leave the field, cutting down on the slow walk-off used to burn clock late in tight games.
- Expanded VAR: video review now covers more situations, including incorrectly awarded corners and cards shown to the wrong player.
- A connected match ball: the official 2026 ball carries a motion sensor that feeds precise data to VAR which is useful for those razor-thin offside and handball calls that can decide a knockout tie.
Watch the 2026 FIFA World Cup™ with DIRECTV
Extra time, penalties, sudden death — the knockout rounds are where World Cups are won and lost, and you won’t want to be told about it secondhand.
Keep up with all the action on DIRECTV, your destination for all things World Cup, on FOX, FS1 and Telemundo. Get MySports® for just $49.99/mo. for your first two months to watch all the action for less!
Frequently asked questions
How long is extra time?
Is there sudden death in extra time?
Can the goalkeeper take a penalty in the shootout?
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