Leave it to soccer to come up with another color to dictate its rules on the field. There are already red, yellow and blue (indoor soccer) cards to discipline players. Now, in a sport where players play for teams called the Reds, Blues or Whites, they can play for silver. Well, they could. Like a few other soccer experiments, this one didn't last.
History
For years, the soccer community has been trying to find a better way to end a game. Ties are not satisfying, especially to Americans. Two-legged fixtures with aggregate goals are confusing. Replays of entire games are not realistic options in modern times with TV windows. Penalty shots are a complete anathema to purist fans who believe it reduces the game down to Russian Roulette. Multiple goals in an overtime period, like the 1970 World Cup game between Germany and Italy with five goals in extra time, is ridiculous as well.
In 1993, FIFA, the governing body of soccer, decided its matches would be decided by golden goal overtime. That meant the first team to score in overtime would be the winners. Golden goal is just a nicer way of saying sudden death overtime. SDO has gotten a bad rap in recent years for its negative connotations, and it is sometimes called sudden victory in youth soccer circles. The origins of the term “sudden death” go back centuries to a condition linked with vampire attacks so really, you can’t blame them for wanting to change the term, can you?
True sudden death or golden goal overtime is a North American concept, actually where the team sport is king. Hockey has played with golden goal overtime for years with Stanley Cup play-off games sometimes going upwards of five and six overtimes waiting for teams to score the first goal.
Bobby Thompson’s “Shot heard round the world” in 1951 aside, baseball does not actually use this concept since both teams get a chance to win the game in the top and bottom of the inning. American college football used to not play overtime at all, but then they have toggled between sudden death overtime and the current format where both teams get a chance to win the game from the 25-yard-line. Golf also claims to have sudden death play-offs, but, short of a hole in one, both golfers have a chance to win the match.
Urban legend says the first use of the golden goal was at the 1996 European Championship, but that is not true. Some sources credit the first golden goal in soccer all the way back in the 1940’s in England, but the most famous golden goal of the modern era occurred in the 1996 European Championship when Germany’s Oliver Bierhoff scored a goal five minutes into an extra period to win the game over the Czech Republic.
Actually, Joseph Carbone scored the first golden goal in FIFA history as Australia beat Uruguay 2-1 in the 1993 World Youth Championship quarterfinal. Laurent Blanc scored the first in FIFA World Cup history when France beat Paraguay 1-0 in the round of 16.
In the 2000 European Championships, France used them in their quarterfinal and semifinal wins to reach the title. FIFA has adopted the golden goal for all of its competitions, and it came into play many times in the 2002 World Cup.
Still, teams and officials were dissatisfied with the rule especially when a penalty shot was the golden goal. It was also unfair to the referee who had to decide the game’s results based on whether a player was pulled down in the box. Also, safety concerns were a problem after pitch invasions occurred when stewards and police were not ready when the final goal was scored.
For the 2002-03 season, UEFA came up with the silver goal rule which allowed for play to continue even when a goal is scored. It came into play in the UEFA Cup final when Derlei scored a silver goal for Portuguese-side Porto to beat Glasgow Celtic for the title.
How it works
Under the ruling, extra time of a maximum 30 minutes is played if the two teams are level at the end of the second leg of a series, and have scored the same number of home and away goals. If one of the teams is ahead after the first 15 minutes of extra time, that team is declared the winner. If the sides are still level, however, a second 15-minute period is played. If one of the teams is ahead after this second period, that team is the winner. If the result remains deadlocked, a penalty shoot-out determines the winners.
Q&A
Who uses this format besides UEFA?
No one else does, or more to the point, did. UEFA, the governing body of European soccer, used it this year for the Euro 2004 play-offs, but it did not come into play in any of the series.
This came into play only once, when Greece beat the Czech Repuplic in the Euro 2004 semifinals. Euro 2004 would be it for the silver goal experiment, but it still technically exists and could be used in an official tournament.
All FIFA competitions still use the golden goal rule. Major League Soccer’s overtime format has gone through numerous iterations in its nine years, only to end up with the international standard of completing the overtime period.
