Euro 2021: What happens if teams are tied? Extra time, penalty kicks, substitution rules
We’re in the single-elimination knockout rounds of Euro 2021 and we’ve already had a fair share of matches that were deadlocked after 90 minutes.
In fact, half the matches of the Euro 2021 Round of 16 ended in ties after regulation. And so did the first quarterfinal.
The official tournament rules for the European Championship (page 20) outline what happens after those 90 minutes of regulation in the case the score is still tied:
- Extra time: Two 15-minute periods of extra time played in their entirety;
- Penalty kicks: If there is still no winner after extra time, a penalty-kick shootout will be used to determine a winner.
These are the four Euro 2021 matches that have gone into extra time, with two of them going all the way to penalty kicks:
- Round of 16: Italy beat Austria 2-1 in extra time after the 90 minutes of regulation finished 0-0
- Round of 16: Croatia and Spain took their 3-3 regulation tie into extra time, where Spain scored twice more to win it 5-3
- Round of 16: France and Switzerland were tied 3-3 in regulation and after a scoreless extra time, the Swiss won on PKs 5-4
- Round of 16: Ukraine and Sweden went into extra time tied 1-1, and it was Ukraine scoring in the 121st minute to win it 2-1
- Quarterfinal: Switzerland and Spain took a 1-1 tie into extra time and then PKs, where the Spaniards won the shootout 3-1
Extra-time substitutes rule
Each team is permitted five substitutions in every match of the competition and a sixth substitution to be used exclusively during extra time.
MORE: Updated Euro 2021 tournament bracket
