What Are the Extra Time, Penalty Kick Shootout Rules at Euro 2020?

Find out how extra time and penalty shootouts work at the European Championship, now that the competition is into the knockout stage.

Despite all the rule changes due to COVID-19 and the novelty of hosting a tournament in 11 countries, the main rules of extra time at Euro 2020 remain the same, and they've come into play now that the competition is into the knockout stage. 

If any game between the round of 16 and the final is tied after 90 minutes, the two teams will take a brief break before two 15-minute periods, which will be played to completion and also have a break between them. If the match is still a draw after the 30 additional minutes, then the teams will take the standard five rounds of penalty kicks to determine a winner. If the teams are tied after five kicks apiece, then the PK shootout goes to sudden death, with rounds continuing until one team has missed and the other has converted.

There is no golden-goal rule, meaning that the game doesn't end immediately after a goal in extra time. The golden goal was abolished in world football—it is still employed in NCAA soccer—after Euro 2004, which was won by Greece using the silver-goal method in the semifinals. 

The silver goal was a two-year UEFA experiment that awarded the victory to the team who was winning at the end of the first extra-time period, if a goal was scored.  

Italy and Austria's last-16 matchup was the first example of how extra time works at the competition. After the teams played to a scoreless draw through regulation, Federico Chiesa and Matteo Pessina scored twice in the first half of extra time to give Italy a 2-0 lead. Austria still had a chance to pull even and nearly did as Marcel Sabitzer came close and Saša Kalajdžić scored in what was ultimately a 2-1 win for the Azzurri.

Spain and Croatia also went to extra time, with the 2018 World Cup runner-up scoring twice late—including an equalizer in the second minute of stoppage time—to force the extra 30 minutes after a 3-3 thriller. Like Italy did, Alvaro Morata and Mikel Oyarzabal scored in the first half of extra time to seize the advantage in an eventual 5-3 victory.

Not to be outdone, France and Switzerland became the third game in the round of 16 to go to extra time, with France, like Spain, overcoming an early deficit only to blow a late two-goal lead. Switzerland wound up winning the first match in the competition that went to penalty kicks, with Yann Sommer denying Kylian Mbappé on the decisive kick to give the Swiss a 5-4 triumph in the shootout.

A fourth match in the round of 16 went to extra time after Ukraine and Sweden played to a 1-1 draw in regulation. It looked like it'd go to penalties, but Artem Dovbyk's header in stoppage time of extra time secured Ukraine's passage into the quarterfinals.

One rule that has changed is that teams are allowed a sixth substitute if the game goes to extra time. In response to the pandemic, the five-substitution rule has been in place since May 2020, which still allows for only three substitution opportunities. However, a fourth-substitution opportunity is available for each team in extra time.