FIFA are considering introducing penalty shootouts to decide drawn group-stage games at World Cup 2026, with the successful side earning a bonus point.
The Athletic is reporting that the idea of tied games after 90 minutes being decided by a shootout is currently being discussed by FIFA, with the shootouts possibly taking place either before kick-off or at full-time.
At the time of writing, World Cup 2022 has produced nine draws in the group stage, with five of them goalless. FIFA are discussing the possibility to offer a bonus point for victors in a penalty shootout in these situations for the 2026 tournament - taking place in USA, Canada and Mexico.
The idea has been discussed before, too. In 2017, FIFA's chief officer for technical development, Marco van Basten said that penalty shootouts would be a useful way to determine a clear winner during group stage matches.
“Shootouts could indeed be an option for tournaments with groups of three in which you play against two opponents,” Van Basten told German outlet Sport Bild.
“It can get pretty tight. If one team for instance draws one match 0-0 and wins the other 1-0, there’s a high risk that all three teams are level on points and goals in the end.”
Indeed, World Cup 2026 is already set to have a major overhaul of the format, with 48 teams playing in the tournament as opposed to the current 32. This therefore means there will be 16 groups of three teams, with the top two progressing to the knockout stages at the round of 32 - currently the first knockout is the last-16.
However, the idea of four-team groups is also being discussed, in order to mitigate any collusion between sides playing the final group game. With three teams, one side will inevitably play their two games earlier than the other two in the group, meaning their fate is already sealed.
Meanwhile, the final two teams playing could strike a deal to play for a certain result that would be at the detriment of the nation not playing - as seen at the 1982 World Cup, when West Germany beat Austria 1-0, allowing both to progress to the next round because any other result and Algeria would've gone through.
Final group games have since kicked off at the same time, in order to stop something similar for happening - hence why discussions pertaining to the confirmed three-team groups are being revised.
