UEFA considers scrapping extra time from knockout games - but are football fans happy to go straight to penalties?

UEFA is reportedly weighing up a decision to remove extra time from tied Champions League matches. In this scenario, if there is still no winner after two legs, the game will go directly to a penalty shoot-out.

The rumoured rule-change might be welcomed by players’ unions, who have argued that it would ease the fatigue and burnout that accompany a packed fixture list. But commentators such as The Guardian’s Jonathan Wilson claim that it won’t substantially address the issue of fatigue and that there’s “no footballing argument” for doing away with extra time.

YouGov asked football fans what they think. Our results show they are in favour of scrapping extra time, albeit not emphatically: 45% would get rid of it, and 37% would oppose its removal.

Younger fans aged 18-34 are more likely to be in favour of the rule-change (58%) than followers of the game in older age groups.

So, many fans support abolishing extra time in Champions League knockout games. Why might they hold this opinion?

The most and least popular ways to settle a drawn football match 

For one thing, most fans think penalty shoot-outs – for all their perceived flaws – are a reasonable way to decide the outcome of a drawn football match that needs a winner: 65% say they’re fair, and 23% say they’re unfair.

But we also asked football fans about the issue of fixture congestion among teams that have qualified for European competitions. Some 56% of fans agree that these clubs are playing too many games, 32% say they are playing about the right amount, and just 3% think they are playing too few. This could partially explain why fans are more likely to endorse scrapping the extra time rule than not.

Certainly, it isn’t necessarily a straightforward case of fan distaste for the additional half-hour at the end of drawn games. When we asked about football matches that go to extra time, 41% said they liked them and 24% said they disliked them (some 34% wouldn’t be drawn either way). And when we surveyed fans about the best method to resolve a drawn football match, the most popular option was the status quo: extra time plus penalties.

By comparison, the second most popular option is going straight to penalties (24%) e. There’s also some support for the discontinued golden goal (14%) and silver goal (9%) methods of settling a football stalemate, while 6% support a full replay of the match at a later date.

Although just 9% think the away goals rule – abolished from the 2021-2022 seasons –  is the best way to break a tie, we decided to ask fans about bringing it back. In 2025, 47% would see the away goals rule returned to the game, while 28% oppose reintroducing it.

Methodology

YouGov polled 2,000 adults online, of whom 806 said they were very/fairly interested in football on 13/14 February 2025.  The survey was carried out through YouGov Surveys: Self-serve. Data is weighted by age, gender, race, political affiliation, education level and region. The margin of error is 2% for the overall sample. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Self-serve.