The 2026 FIFA World Cup is doing something it hasn’t done in nearly a century of existence: expanding to 48 teams. That means more matches, a new round of 32 in the knockout stage, and the same old question fans have been asking since the invention of the television. What happens when a knockout game ends in a draw?
The answer is reassuringly traditional. Knockout matches tied after the standard 90 minutes will proceed to 30 minutes of extra time, followed by a penalty shootout if necessary. The golden goal and silver goal experiments died over two decades ago, and nobody seems to miss them.
More games, more stakes, and a tweak to penalties
The expanded format introduces a round of 32, which is entirely new territory for the World Cup. Previously, group stage survivors jumped straight into a round of 16. Now there’s an additional elimination round, which means more matches where extra time and penalties could come into play.
FIFA is also reportedly considering a minor procedural adjustment to the penalty shootout itself. The current format involves multiple coin tosses, but discussions are underway to streamline the process by reducing it to a single toss.
