FIFA wants to cut the number of coin tosses before a penalty shootout in half. The current system uses two separate flips: one to pick which end of the pitch the kicks happen on, and another to decide which team shoots first. The new proposal would collapse that into a single toss, where the winning captain picks one of the two options and the losing captain gets the other.
It’s the kind of procedural housekeeping that sounds trivial until you remember that penalty shootouts decide World Cups. And this one needs approval from the International Football Association Board (IFAB) before the knockout rounds begin.
What’s actually changing
Under the existing rules, the pre-shootout ritual involves two distinct coin tosses. The first determines which goal the penalties will be taken at. The second decides which team kicks first.
FIFA’s proposal merges these into one decision point. Win the toss, pick your priority: do you want to choose which end to use, or do you want to shoot first? The loser gets whichever option is left.
