FIFA is changing how penalty shootouts work at this World Cup — not before it, not after it, but during it. That's not standard procedure. That's a governing body deciding, mid-competition, that the current rules aren't good enough.
The specific change is straightforward: two coin tosses become one. Under existing rules, separate tosses decide which end teams shoot toward and which team takes the first kick. Under the new system, the captain who wins the single toss picks the end — and then the opposing captain decides who shoots first. FIFA referee chief Pierluigi Collina is driving the change, with a video conference involving the International FA Board (IFAB) scheduled before the knockout rounds begin Sunday.
Arsenal's pain, codified into law
The context here matters. Arsenal lost both coin tosses before their UEFA Champions League final shootout defeat to Paris Saint-Germain. Two tosses, two losses, before a single ball was kicked. Whether or not that changed the outcome is debatable — but the optics were rough enough that it's become part of the conversation around shootout fairness.
Former Arsenal chairman David Dein has been pushing for shootout reform since 2023, specifically advocating that kicks be taken at both ends so neither team's players are shooting exclusively in front of opposition supporters. His argument is blunt: "The more I watched shootouts, the more I felt it was unfair on the team who have to take their kicks in front of the opposing fans."
FIFA hasn't gone that far — yet. The coin toss adjustment is more procedural than structural. But it signals an appetite for change that Dein's proposal helped create.
What this actually means
Critically, this is a test, not a law. IFAB hasn't formally adopted it, so the FA Cup and League Cup won't be obligated to follow suit next season — though they could request permission to do so. This World Cup becomes a live trial with the highest possible stakes.
France won the coin toss in the 2022 World Cup final and chose to kick first. Argentina won the shootout anyway, which tells you the first-kick advantage isn't determinative. But perception drives these decisions as much as data, and right now the perception is that too much randomness exists before a single player even steps up to the spot.
Dein put it plainly: "My plan is so simple I don't understand why it's never been done." The answer has always been tradition. FIFA, apparently, is finally less convinced by that answer than it used to be.
