UEFA (Union of European Football Associations ) is looking to change penalty shootouts in football to make them fairer under new plans .
The sport’s European governing body is conducting trials a new way for penalties to be taken in decisive shootouts.
Instead of teams alternating spot-kicks, Uefa is considering a new system similar to the tie-break in tennis.
The system is being tried out at the European Under-17 Championship, which began in Croatia on Wednesday.
As it 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 ‘ABBA’ and sees team A followed by team B – before team B goes again. Team A would then get two successive penalties, and so on until there is a winner.
A coin will still be tossed to decide who goes first.
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 research it says proves the team taking the first penalty have an unfair advantage as they win 60% of shootouts.
The system is also being trialled at the women’s European Under-17 Championship, which began in the Czech Republic on Tuesday.
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