FIFA’s proposal to change penalty shootout rules rejected ahead of 2026 World Cup knockouts

FIFA wanted to fix something about penalty shootouts before the 2026 World Cup knockout stage kicked off. The International Football Association Board, the body that actually governs the rules of the game, said no.

The proposal was straightforward: replace the traditional two coin tosses before a shootout with a single toss. The winning team would choose either to kick first or which goal to attack, and the losing team would get whatever option remained. Clean, simple, and designed to prevent one team from sweeping both advantages through sheer luck.

Instead, the original two-toss system stays in place for the tournament’s knockout rounds, which began on June 28, 2026.

What FIFA was actually trying to fix

Here’s the thing about the current system. Two separate coin tosses happen before a penalty shootout. One determines who kicks first. The other determines which end of the pitch the kicks are taken at. That means one team can theoretically win both tosses, gaining the psychological edge of shooting first and the tactical advantage of choosing which goal to use.

FIFA’s fix would have collapsed those two decisions into a single coin flip. Win the toss, pick your preferred advantage. Lose it, take what’s left. No team walks into the shootout holding all the cards.

The urgency behind the proposal reportedly stemmed from past competitive matches where the double-toss outcome felt consequential. Arsenal’s experiences in prior knockout situations, where the club lost both coin tosses in a critical match, appear to have been part of the catalyst for reconsidering the procedure.

Why IFAB blocked it

IFAB, not FIFA, has the final say on the Laws of the Game. The proposal required emergency approval before the knockout stage began. That’s a tight timeline for any rule change, and IFAB apparently wasn’t convinced the change warranted fast-tracking on FIFA’s preferred schedule.

The result is that the 2026 World Cup knockout rounds will proceed under the same shootout framework that has governed the competition for decades. Two tosses. Two separate advantages up for grabs.

What this means for the tournament and future rule changes

Kicking first does carry a measurable psychological advantage, one that’s been documented in academic studies for years. The team shooting first wins roughly 60% of the time in some analyses, though the exact figure varies by dataset.

By keeping the two-toss system, there’s a nonzero chance that a team in a quarterfinal or semifinal wins both coin flips and carries a compounded edge into the shootout. The proposal could resurface for future tournaments, but for 2026, the old system stands.

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