How do penalty kick shootouts work in the 2026 World Cup knockout stage?
With the knockout phase underway, we look at how World Cup ties are settled if teams can’t be separated after 120 minutes.
The 2026 World Cup’s knockout stage is only four games old, but already we have seen two round-of-32 ties settled by a penalty shootout. On Monday, Paraguay and Morocco both prevailed from the spot - with the South Americans causing a major upset in the process.
Unprecedented penalty pain for the Germans
By beating Germany 4-3 on penalties in Foxborough, the Paraguayans not only knocked out a four-time champion that had travelled to North America ranked 31 places higher than its opponent.
Gustavo Alfaro’s men also ended the Germans’ unbeaten record in shootouts at the men’s World Cup. Indeed, Die Mannschaft had not lost on spot-kicks in any major competition since Antonin Panenka’s iconic dink sealed victory for Czechoslovakia in the 1976 European Championship final.
Hours after Germany’s shock defeat in Massachusetts, the Moroccans then kept up their bid to emulate 2022’s deep tournament run, beating the Netherlands 3-2 from 12 yards. The victory means the Atlas Lions are now two-for-two in World Cup shootouts: four years ago, the North Africans dumped Spain out on penalties in the last 16.
For the Dutch, a team tipped for the title by one hitherto unerring prediction model, it was a particularly cruel exit. After Cody Gakpo’s second-half opener, the Oranje had been the verge of the next round when Issa Diop’s last-gasp header forced extra time and, ultimately, a Moroccan win on penalties.
So how do extra time and penalties work at the World Cup?
If the two teams can’t be separated after the regulation 90 minutes in a knockout match, extra time is the first tiebreaker used. Lasting for a total of 30 minutes, it consists of two 15-minute halves and is played in its entirety, regardless of any changes to the score. If a team is ahead at the end of extra time, it wins the game.
If the teams are still level after the additional half-hour, the match goes to a penalty shootout.
The shootout was first used at a men’s World Cup in 1982, to settle a semifinal matchup between West Germany and France. In the 44 years since then, it has now decided 37 knockout ties in the competition - among them the 1994 and 2006 finals.
Penalty shootouts - the rules:
In a shootout, both teams get five penalties each, with kicks taken alternately by each side. The team that scores the most penalties wins. If one side establishes an unassailable lead before one or both of the teams has taken all of its five penalties, the shootout ends. If the sides remain level after five penalties each, they take additional rounds of single sudden-death spot-kicks until one scores and the other misses.
Only players who were on the pitch when extra time ended can take part; anyone who was substituted or sent off is ineligible. A different person must step up for each penalty, unless the shootout remains level after every available member of a team has taken a spot-kick. At that point, players begin taking a second penalty each.
This is yet to occur at a men’s World Cup - and hasn’t been particularly close to happening, either.
Penalty kicks: the basics
- Both teams take five penalties each
- Spot-kicks taken alternately by each side
- Team that scores more penalties wins
- Shootout ends early if a team takes unassailable lead
- Sudden-death kicks if sides level after five penalties
What are the longest penalty shootouts in men’s World Cup history?
The lengthiest shootouts witnessed so far at the tournament all concluded after each team had taken six penalties each: West Germany’s semifinal win over France in ‘82; a Sweden victory over Bulgaria in the 1994 quarterfinals; and Paraguay’s round-of-32 triumph over Germany on Monday.
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