Sports have a limited amount of game time in which to decide a winner. A draw is fine in a group or league scenario where points can be allocated, but in a knockout tournament where a winner must be declared ‘extra time’, known as ‘overtime’ in North America, is played in many sports.
Sports that traditionally use ‘extra time/overtime’ as a method of determining the winner of a drawn game, usually, in tournament competition are: football, rugby union, rugby league, Australian rules football, gaelic rules, hurling, field hockey, ice hockey, American football, lacrosse and basketball
| Sport | Extra time allowance |
| Football | Two 15 min haves |
| Rugby Union | Two 10 min halves |
| Rugby Sevens | Multiple golden point 5 minute periods |
| Rugby League | Two 10 min halves |
| Australian Rules | Two 5 min halves |
| Gaelic Rules | Two 10 min halves |
| Hurling | Two 10 min halves |
| Field hockey | Two halves of 7 and a half mins |
| Ice Hockey | Immediate sudden death |
| NFL American Football | A procedure of alternating possessions occurs |
| Basketball | Multiple 5 min over time periods |
| Lacrosse | Two 10 min halves |
Interesting Extra Time Variations
It should be noted that there are significant differences both between sports and in different competitions within a sport. For example, the NRL in Australia has a five minute single half of extra time and if no winners are found after that, then a further five minutes of golden point time follow.
In basketball they simply keep playing additional blocks of 5 minute overtime periods until one of the times finishes ahead. In theory, this could continue indefinitely, however, in reality the maximum number of overtime periods on record is six.
Rugby Sevens is similar to basketball in that they keep playing 5 minute overtime periods but the difference is that it is golden point overtime where as in basketball both teams can score and remain level at the end of the 5 minute period.
Let’s look at three of the most prominent world sports: Rugby Union, American Football, and Soccer. To see how each of these sports differ when it comes to rules of overtime/extra time.
Rugby Union Extra Time Rules
In most major rugby tournaments, a tied game after the 80-minute match during the knockout stages is followed by two extra periods of 10-minutes, split by a 5-minute interval. If the scores are still tied after extra time, the teams are required to play sudden-death for 10-minutes, the first team to score a point is declared the winner.
In reality, in the world cup this rarely happens. The most famous game containing extra time is the 2003 rugby world cup final within which the English icon Jonny WIlkinson drop kicked England to victory in the last minute of the second half of extra time.
Typically though, if there is still no winner after this extra time period in rugby, standard rules dictate that there will be a kicking competition that requires both kickers to take place-kicks at the post until someone eventually misses.
The rules may or may not stipulate that each kick is taken by a different kicker which can eventually lead to kicks being taken by forwards who are likely to have never kicked a ball before in a competitive match, Some people believe is an unfair way to settle a game, although it does provide a serious amount of drama.
Some competitions implement other tie-breaking rules before resorting to a kicking contest, such as comparing the number of tries that each team scores, comparing the numbers of yellow or red cards a team has received. None of these are particularly satisfactory. Personally, I would simply play golden point for as long as it takes.
Check out the basic rules of rugby here for more information.
American Football Over Time Rules
American football’s extra-time rules vary between competitions and levels. In American Football’s premier competition, the NFL, a tie can only occur in a regular season game if both teams are still level after the overtime period.
A sudden-death overtime period of one 10-minute period is added if teams are tied after regulation time during a regular-season game.
This period used to be 15-minutes in length until it was changed to 10-minutes in 2017. Overtime for preseason games is also no longer a rule as of 2021.
In a playoff or knockout game where a winner must be decided, the team would play 15-minute overtime periods until one team scores. The normal clock rules are reset, and the game continues for as long as it takes for a winner to be found.
See how the size of NFL players compares to rugby players in our rugby player size guide here.
Football/Soccer Extra Time Rules
The extra-time rules for soccer are standard across almost every knock-out competition. After the regulation 90-minute match in a knockout tournament, the teams play two extra time halves of 15-minutes apiece. The break between these halves is 5-minutes and all players are to remain on the pitch.
In some competitions, such as the UEFA Champions League, a knockout tie will be played over two legs, with each match being played in the respective team’s home stadium. In this case, the scores will be aggregated and if the aggregate is still level after the two matches, the second game will move onto extra time.
The away goals rule state that if both teams were level after two legs, the team that scored the most goals away from home would progress. However, this was abolished by UEFA in 2021.
Other competitions, such as the FA Cup, stipulate that the tie will be replayed at the opposing team’s stadium in the event of a tie. If they are still level after that replay, then the game will progress to penalties.
There are no standard rules by which competitions are bound, but the vast majority of knockout tournaments are decided by one 90-minute match followed by two 15 minute periods of extra time, and then penalties.
You might also be interested in how football boots compare to rugby boots here.
The Big Lesson…
To the uninitiated, sports can be confusing, especially with all the idiosyncratic rules that govern each one.
Sometimes these sports can end in a draw, other times not. Each sport has its own way of deciding a winner which is usually initiated by a period of extra time. Not only is each sport different, but different competitions within the same sport can also vary!
The big lesson for coaches, players and captains alike is to check thoroughly how games will be decided if games end in a draw, even after extra time so that all players are in the right head space and people make the correct tactical decision such as substitutions in order to ensure there team has the best chance of winning.
You are not alone if you are baffled by some of the rules of sport however. The bottom line is that sometimes a winner must be found, and the teams have to keep playing until the match has been decided.
You might also like: Rugby Union: Extra Time, Overtime, and Injury Time Rules Explained (Examples)
Image Credits
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Lesselich, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons