The away goals rule is a method of breaking ties in football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. By the away goals rule, the team that has scored more goals (points, baskets) "away from home" will win. This is sometimes expressed by saying that away goals "count double" in the event of a tie^[1]. Tiebreaker A question used in the event of a tie at the end of a pub quiz, where the answer is oten a figure not likely to be known, the winner is the closest to the answer, thus it breaks the deadlock. ... Football (soccer) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

The away-goals rule is most often invoked in two-legged fixtures, where the initial result is determined by the aggregate score — i.e. the scores of both games are added together. In many competitions, the away goals rule is the first tie-breaker for such cases, with a penalty shootout as the second tie-breaker if each team has scored the same number of away goals. Rules vary as to whether the away goals rule applies at the end of normal time of the second leg, or after extra time, or (most commonly) after both. In sport (particularly soccer), a two-legged match is a match-up between two clubs or nations that lasts over two individual games. ... The aggregate score is a used in football (soccer). ... Penalty shootouts (officially referred to as kicks from the penalty mark) are a method sometimes used to decide which team progresses to the next stage of a tournament (or wins the tournament) following a draw in a game of association football. ... Extra time is an additional period played at the end of some games of football (soccer) if the score is tied after the two standard periods (halves) of play. ...

The away goals rule is intended to encourage the away team to be more aggressive. However, players and managers sometimes state before a home leg that 'it is vital for us not to concede a goal', so the home team may play more defensively than usual.

Usage

The away goals rule is applied in many football competitions that involve two-legged fixtures, including the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup, and any two-legged playoffs used in qualification for the FIFA World Cup or European Championships. The UEFA Champions League (which used to be named and is often called the European Cup) is an annual club football competition organized by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for the most successful football clubs in Europe. ... The UEFA Cup is a football competition for European club teams, organized by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). ... The FIFA World Cup Trophy, which has been awarded to the world champions since 1974. ... The UEFA European Championship is the main football competition of the mens national football teams governed by the UEFA. Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the European Nations Cup, changing to the name European Football Championship...

Not all competitions use the away goals rule. For example, before 2005, CONMEBOL used neither the away goals rule nor extra time in any of its competitions, such as the Copa Libertadores. Ties that were level on aggregate went to an immediate penalty shootout. The away goals rule (without extra time) was introduced to the Copa Libertadores in 2005. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... CONMEBOL or CSF (CONfederación sudaMEricana de FútBOL, South American Football Confederation) is the governing body of football in South America. ... Copa Libertadores Logo The Copa Libertadores de América (also known as Copa Toyota Libertadores) (Portuguese: Taça Libertadores da América, English: Liberators of America Cup) is an international football cup competition played annually by the top clubs of South America. ...

In English football, two-legged fixtures in the League Cup are only subject to the away goals rule after extra time; even if one team leads on away goals after 90 minutes of the second leg, extra time is played regardless. The sport of association football is the national sport of England, and as such has an important place within English national life. ... The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup, is an English football competition. ...

The semi-finals of the promotion playoffs in the Football League, despite being two-legged, ceased to employ the away goals rule from 2000. As away goals scored in extra time counted double, the side finishing lower in the league gained an advantage by playing away in the 2nd leg, thus giving them 30 more minutes to score an away goal. The rescindment of the away goals rule has effected the results of several play-off semi-finals. A playoff in sports (North American professional sports in particular) is a game or series of games played after the regular season is over with the goal of determining a league champion. ... The Football League is an organisation representing 72 professional football clubs in England and Wales, and runs the oldest professional football league competition in the world. ...

The away goals rule is sometimes used in round robin competitions (i.e. leagues or qualifying groups), where it may be used to break ties involving more than two teams. For example, in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, away goals are the sixth tiebreaker,^[2] and away goals are the third tiebreaker in the group stage of both the UEFA Champions League^[3] and UEFA Cup.^[4] Because other tiebreakers take precedence, the away goals rule is rarely invoked in such tournaments. In many group tournaments, the away goals rule is never applicable; for example, in World Cup qualification^[5]. A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a type of group tournament in which each participant plays every other participant an equal number of times. ... A list of professional sports leagues: Auto racing Champcars, formerly CART (Official Page) Formula One, Grand Prix racing (Official Site) IRL (Indy Racing League) (Official Page) NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) (Official Page) NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) (Official Page) Baseball Major League Baseball Minor League Baseball... A tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a single sport or game. ... In a group tournament, unlike a knockout tournament, there is no decisive final match. ... The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) is a College Athletic Conference which is made up exclusively of public schools in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. ... FIFA World Cup qualification is the process a team goes through to qualify for the FIFA World Cup Finals, or, more commonly known as the FIFA World Cup. ...

Anomalies

If the two clubs contesting a two-legged fixture share the same stadium, each club is the home club in one leg, and the rule still applies. In many such cases, most tickets to each leg will be reserved for the "home" side's fans, so the designation is not simply arbitrary. More anomalous was a qualification play-off for the 1991 World Youth Championship between Australia and Israel: Australia won on away goals even though, due to security concerns arising from the First Intifada, Israel's "home" leg was played in Australia ^[6] The 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Portugal from June 14 to June 30, 1991. ... The First Intifada, or Palestinian uprising refers to a series of violent incidents between Palestinians and Israelis between 1987 and approximately 1990. ...

There has been at least one case of a wrong application of the away goals rule by a referee in an international club tournament. It happened during the second-round tie in the 1971–72 Cup Winners' Cup between Rangers and Sporting Lisbon. This fixture had the following scorelines: 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... The Cup Winners Cup was a football club competition between the winners of the European domestic cup competitions. ... Rangers Football Club is a football club from Glasgow, Scotland, which plays in the Scottish Premier League. ... Sporting Clube de Portugal (pron. ...

• First leg: Rangers 3–2 Sporting
• Second leg, after 90 minutes: Sporting 3–2 Rangers
• Second leg, after extra time: Sporting 4–3 Rangers

Since the teams were now level 6–6 on aggregate, the referee ordered a penalty shootout, which Sporting won 3–0. However, Rangers appealed the loss on the grounds that the referee should not have ordered the shootout, since the Rangers goal in extra time in Lisbon gave them a lead of 3 away goals to 2. Rangers won the appeal and went on to win the Cup Winners' Cup that season.

References

1. ^ For example Regulations, 2006 FIFA World Cup (PDF) 6. FIFA (May 2003). Retrieved on 2006-11-19. “If both teams score the same number of goals in both matches, the goals scored away will be counted as double.”
2. ^ Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference: WOMEN’S SOCCER OPERATING CODE (MS Word). Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (2006-08-23). Retrieved on 2006-11-19. “The following criteria shall be used in order to break any tie(s) in the selection process:

   1. Head to Head competition results between tied teams.

   2. Record against teams not involved in a tie, starting at the top of the standings.

   3. Goal differential between tied teams.

   4. Fewest goals allowed between tied teams

   5. Goals scored

   6. Away goals scored

   7. Win-Lost record against common opponents outside the PSAC (non-PSAC opponents)

   8. A coin flip will occur to break ties between tied teams for PSAC playoffs after other tie breakers have been used.”

3. ^ Regulations of the UEFA Champions League 2006-07, Rule 4.05 (PDF). UEFA (March 2006). Retrieved on 2006-12-11. “If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings:

   a) higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;

   b) superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;

   c) higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question;

   d) superior goal difference from all group matches played;

   e) higher number of goals scored in all group matches played;

   f) higher number of coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons.”

4. ^ Regulations of the UEFA Cup 2006-07, Rule 4.06 (PDF). UEFA (March 2006). Retrieved on 2006-12-11. “If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings:

   a) superior goal difference from all group matches played;

   b) higher number of goals scored;

   c) higher number of goals scored away;

   d) higher number of wins;

   e) higher number of away wins;

   f) higher number of coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons.”

5. ^ Regulations, 2006 FIFA World Cup, page 6: "In the league system the ranking in each group is determined as follows:

   (a) greater number of points obtained in all the group matches;

   If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above criterion, their ranking shall be determined as follows:

   (b) greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;

   (c) goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;

   (d) greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;

   (e) goal difference in all the group matches;

   (f) greater number of goals scored in all the group matches;

   (g) a play-off on neutral ground."

6. ^ Oceania U-20 World Cup 1991 Qualifiers.