FIFA is about to change the rules of penalty shootouts mid-tournament — and they're doing it in days, not months. With the World Cup knockout rounds starting Sunday, the governing body is fast-tracking a coin toss modification that has never been done in the middle of a major competition before.
Under the current system, two coin tosses decide the shootout: one for choice of ends, one for who goes first. FIFA referee chief Pierluigi Collina wants to cut that to one. The team winning the toss picks which end to shoot toward, then the opposing captain decides who takes the first kick. The logic is that separating those two decisions creates a fairer balance of advantage.
Fast-tracked, not rubber-stamped
FIFA has been in talks with the International FA Board — the body that actually writes football's laws — and a video conference on Saturday is expected to greenlight the change in time for Sunday's last-16 ties. Normally, IFAB rule amendments take considerably longer. This is being treated as a trial, which means it won't automatically filter down to domestic cups like the FA Cup or EFL Cup next season, though those competitions could apply to adopt it.
The timing is pointed. France won the coin toss in the 2022 World Cup final and chose to go first — then lost the shootout to Argentina anyway. More recently, Arsenal lost both coin tosses in their Champions League final defeat to PSG, a detail that stings a little harder when you start questioning whether the process was ever truly fair.
The broader debate around shootout fairness isn't new. Former Arsenal chairman David Dein proposed in 2023 that spot kicks should be taken at both ends simultaneously — removing the crowd factor entirely. "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," Dein wrote. He argued the logistics are straightforward: split the officials, split the cameras, split the ends.
FIFA isn't going that far — not yet. But changing the coin toss structure mid-competition, on the eve of the knockout rounds, is still a significant step. Any team whose shootout fate hinges on this new process this weekend will be navigating rules that didn't exist when the tournament kicked off.
