MLS
MLS Cup Playoffs tie-breakers: What happens if there’s a tie in the Conference Final?
LA Galaxy host Seattle Sounders in the Western Conference Final, shortly after the New York Red Bulls triumphed in the East.
The 2024 MLS Cup will be played on Saturday, December 7 with the champions of each conference going head-to-head to be crowned champions.
The New York Red Bulls were the first to book their place in the showpiece final, ending a 16-year wait for a second MLS Cup appearance. They will play the winner of LA Galaxy and Seattle Sounders.
With the post-season playoffs bringing together the best teams in the country, there is always a reasonable chance of matches ending in a tie, which several already have done this year. Depending on the round, different tiebreakers are used, especially in the early part of the knockout stages.
What is the tie-breaker in the MLS Cup Playoffs?
In the one-off Wild Card matches, for instance, matches which finished level after 90 minutes skipped extra time and went straight to a penalty shootout. Round One was a best-of-three series, with each match in the series producing a winner. Again, games that were tied after 90 minutes had no extra time and went straight to penalties.
For the Conference Semifinals, the Conference Finals and the MLS Cup itself, the tiebreaker rules are the same. In these rounds, matches that are all square after 90 minutes to go to extra time, which is played across two periods of 15 minutes. If the teams in question still can’t be separated, a penalty shootout will follow to determine the winner.
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