By Andrew Warshaw
March 6 – Football’s lawmakers are considering making penalty shootouts fairer by adopting the format used in tennis tiebreakers.
Teams currently alternate in shootouts, but the International Football Association Board (IFAB) says research shows the first team taking kicks has a 60% chance of winning.
IFAB is seeking trials in the lower leagues mirroring tennis, where after the first point in tiebreaks the opponent then serves the next two points – and so on.
The new system would remove the advantage of winning the toss and carry on until sudden death
“We believe that the ‘ABBA’ approach could remove that statistical bias and this is something that we will now look to trial,” Scottish Football Association chief executive Stewart Regan said after Friday’s IFAB meeting.
“It would mean the first 10 kicks are taken under the ABBA system and then when it gets to next-goal-wins then it would revert to alternate penalties.”
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