Lionel Messi scored his second goal of the game in the 108th minute. 10 minutes later, Kylian Mbappe converted the penalty into a hat-trick. And there was still time for Randal Kolo Muani to be denied the winner by a brilliant save from Emiliano Martínez.
It all happened during extra time of the 2022 World Cup final between France and Argentina in Qatar. After the 90-minute match ended 2-2, football took its own approach to breaking the deadlock, delivering a spectacular 120 minutes that showcased the global pinnacle of the game.
As the knockout stages of the 2026 World Cup are now upon us, games will no longer finish level, with an extra 30 minutes of play to try to find a winner. If that doesn’t work, as it did in Qatar, it’s time for a penalty shootout.
So, how does extra time work, and is it always fun?
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What is overtime?
Extra time occurs in knockout matches when 90 minutes of regular play fails to produce a winner.
Soccer’s ‘overtime’ is a 30-minute period of extra play, divided into two 15-minute halves, which may also include stoppage-time add-ons at the end of each half.
At the midpoint of extra time, the teams swap sides just as they did midway through 90-minute matches, and are given one additional substitution for this half-hour period, meaning that six changes can be made in the final 120 minutes of the match.
If the score is still tied after extra time, the game goes to penalties, where five players from each side take turns taking the initial five spot kicks per team. If the match is still tied after that, the shootout becomes ‘sudden death’ – when the opponent does not win and advance (or, if it is in the final, lift the trophy) the first team to score with a penalty.
Mario Gotze scores Germany’s extra-time winner against Argentina in the 2014 World Cup final (Simon Stackpool/Offside/Getty Images).
Extra time and penalties are not required in group-stage matches as if teams are tied after 90 minutes, a point each can be shared, but once the knockout stage begins, there must always be a winner on the day.
The larger North American sports leagues have longer overtimes than the thirty minutes used, the NHL has a five-minute sudden death add-on, the NBA plays five-minute overtime periods unless one side is leading when one of them expires, the NFL opts for 10 minutes of carry-on action and the MLB goes to extra innings.
Is it different from stopping time?
Yes.
Stoppage time or extra time, known to many as injury time, is a period of play that is added to each regulation half of football to compensate for minutes lost in the half due to the substitution window, goal celebrations, time-outs and injured players receiving treatment. And now, with this World Cup, hydration has broken down.
After the regulation 45 minutes, the fourth official on the sidelines holds up an electronic board to which the minimum minutes are lit. If further delays occur during these minutes, the pause time will be extended beyond this initial figure.
At the last World Cup in 2022, global football governing body FIFA’s refereeing chief Pierluigi Collina aimed to eliminate time wasting, instructing officials to add more time than usual as matches averaged more than 100 minutes.
He has seemingly softened for this tournament, but the introduction of a mandatory three-minute hydration break for teams in the middle of each half, where clocks are not stopped, means that this time must be dealt with at the end, with stoppage time lasting longer than traditional.
Where did the idea of overtime come from?
The first major football match to use extra time was the 1875 FA Cup Final in England, where the Royal Engineers and Old Etonians played out a 1–1 draw. The penalty shootout had not yet started, so the final was replayed three days later and the Engineers won 2–0.
The World Cup has used extra time to give positive results in tied knockout stage matches since its inception in 1930, with the game initially replayed if the score remains tied after 120 minutes. Replays were not common – only four occurred in the 1970 tournament before penalty shootouts were introduced.
FIFA attempted to eliminate extra time in 1993 with the introduction of the ‘golden goal’ rule, any goal scored in extra time immediately signaled the end of the match, and the team that scored the goal was declared the winner.
The hope with this change was to make overtime more enjoyable and less defensive. The reality was that both teams were more afraid of losing by one mistake, with only four goals being scored when the ‘Golden Goal’ was in place in the 1998 and 2002 World Cups. Defender Laurent Blanc was the first player to do so when hosts France defeated Paraguay in the round of 16.
“It wasn’t my intention to be there, but there comes a time when you have to try and take responsibility.”
Laurent Blanc scored the first golden goal from a distance of 7 yards #worldcup From history to power @frenchteam in the quarter finals pic.twitter.com/nmLiV9blMr
– FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) 28 June 2020
But the most famous ‘golden goal’ is arguably that of Oliver Bierhoff, who scored the winner with five minutes of extra time in the European Championship final for Germany against the Czech Republic in 1996. Four years later, in the next Euro final, France defeated Italy in the same manner when David Trezeguet scored in the 103rd minute.
Who scored your favorite Euro-winning goal?
Throwback to Oliver Bierhoff’s golden goal in the Euro 1996 final pic.twitter.com/QiZIx4FjkL– UEFA Euro (@UEFAEURO) 12 March 2021
Following reaction to its use in those tournaments and other competitions around the world, FIFA reinstated the traditional rules of extra time for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
FIFA also tested the ‘silver goal’ around the world, where if a team was leading after the first 15 minutes of extra time, they won the match, but this never made it to the World Cup, and FIFA decided that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
How much extra time is normal?
Over the past three tournaments, 17 knockout ties have gone to extra time – 35 percent of all possible matches.
Eight of the 22 World Cup finals have gone to extra time, including three of the last four. Andres Iniesta led Spain to the title in 2010, Mario Gotze won the 2014 edition for Germany and the 2022 final went to a shootout, which Argentina won 4-2.
Andres Iniesta scores Spain’s winner in the 2010 World Cup final (Jeff Mitchell – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
England have extra time to thank for their only World Cup success – Geoff Hurst scored twice in the extra 30 minutes to complete a hat-trick, the only player to do so in a final until Mbappe equaled him in Qatar – having beaten West Germany 4–2 at Wembley Stadium in 1966.
With this tournament doubling the number of knockout fixtures from the previous 16 to 32, the World Cup is likely to see more extra time than ever before.
Is it really entertaining?
hit and miss. Of the 17 games that went into extra time, only five resulted in a winner in the extra period of play. Fifteen goals were scored in extra time in those matches, but no goals were scored in 10 matches.
Extra time is always either thrilling or extremely boring.
This leads to fatigue, as some players tend to gravitate towards 120 minutes of action and a slower pace, and, like the ‘golden goal’, 30 minutes can lead teams to play out of fear of losing rather than a desire to win, but if one side or the other makes a breakthrough during extra time, it really boosts excitement.
Only twice in those 17 matches has a goal been scored in even extra time, with the final in Qatar showing just how spectacular the extra 30 minutes can be once ignited.
It may be dull or important, but football’s way of settling deadlocks, with a penalty shootout if the score is tied, always creates excitement right to the end.