Historical context The rules of the first known organized inter-club tournament in any code of football, the English
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. 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. 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. 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.
FIFA competitions 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. 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. Barbados won the game in extra time and advanced to the next round. 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. Also in 2000,
Galatasaray had a 2–1 victory over
Real Madrid in the
2000 UEFA Super Cup in
Stade Louis II. The 90 minutes had produced a 1-1 draw and in extra time the Brazilian player
Mário Jardel scored the golden goal and won the first ever UEFA Super Cup in club history. The following year,
Liverpool overcame
Deportivo Alavés in the
UEFA Cup final with a golden
own goal by
Delfí Geli to make the score 5–4 to Liverpool. The
UEFA Champions League is one of few tournaments not to have been settled by a 'golden goal'. 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 Men's World Cup golden goals'''
FIFA Confederations Cup golden goals Silver goal For the 2002–03 season,
UEFA introduced a new rule, the silver goal, to decide a competitive match. If a team leads after the first fifteen-minute half of extra time, it is the winner, but the game no longer ends the instant a team scores like it did under golden goal. Competitions that operated extra time would be able to decide whether to use the golden goal, the silver goal, or neither procedure. The silver goal was seen as a means to "reduce the odds of a penalty shoot-out without the immediate jeopardy (and perceived unfairness) of Golden Goal" as it gave the losing team the remainder of the first fifteen-minute period of extra time to make a comeback. 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. Less than a year later on 1 July 2004, Galásek was 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. The Czech team had been known for their come-from-behind wins earlier in the tournament against Latvia, Netherlands, and Germany, but the extremely late Greek score left the Czechs no chance to equalize. On the other hand if the Greeks had scored at the start of either period of extra time, the Czechs would have had a decent opportunity to come back in the match. 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, as
FIFA restored the previous rules: in the event of a drawn game after the regular 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. The golden goal rule was abolished in
NCAA soccer in 2022, used the FIFA overtime procedure as above, but was reinstated for post-season play in 2024. 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,
2020, and
2025. ==Other sports==