Question Number: 27706

Law 8 - Start and Restart of Play 8/30/2013

RE: Rec Other

Scott of Livermore, CA USA asks...

The laws state that prior to the start of a game the winner of a coin toss decides which direction to attack. In games where a winner is required, a common approach used in my area (and not addressed by the laws) is to have two overtime periods of equal length with the team scoring the first goal declared the winner, i.e. the Golden Goal. If still tied after the overtime the winner is then determined with kicks from the penalty mark. My question is, how do you decide who will kick off, and in which direction for the first overtime period? This is different than the beginning of the game, since it is possible there may be only one overtime and the team winning a coin toss might prefer to kick off as opposed to picking the direction. It seems to me a fair approach would be to allow the coin toss winner their choice of kicking off, or direction of attack.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Scott
The 'Golden Goal' is no longer part of the Laws of the Game and it was removed in 2004. It is no longer sanctioned by IFAB as a method to break a tie.
When it was part of the Laws it was stated that the conditions of Law 8 would continue to apply. That meant that the team winning the toss has to decide which goal it will attack in the first half of extra time. The other team takes the kick off.
If asked I would simply say that is the way it was done when part of the Laws and if it was okay in the World Cup in 2002 it is good enough here.
So complete a toss for ends at the start of overtime which is a repeat of the kick off toss. The team that loses the toss takes the kick off.
If you think that is not fair, tied games after extra time in the sixties' Champions League were settled by a coin toss. Hard to imagine it now.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Scott,

At the start of extra time (whichever method of extra time it is), conduct another toss. As the Away team called on the first toss, it's generally the Home team who calls on this toss. Handle that coin toss as usual. The same rules apply - winner chooses direction, loser kicks.

Your argument of what's 'fair', while not without merit would apply to the first coin toss as well. But the laws prevent that approach - so for consistency, we take the same approach for the 2nd coin toss. It wouldn't make sense to have different rules for that one.