European football governing body, UEFA, is set to transform penalty shootouts in football. The new method of taking penalty shootouts is already going through trials.


Instead of the normal form which sees teams alternating spot-kicks, Uefa is considering a new system similar to the tie-break in tennis.

The system will be tried out at the European Under-17 Championship, which began in Croatia on Wednesday.



The new pattern will have teams take turns in a shootout, with the choice of who goes first decided by a coin toss.



For example, team A goes first, then team B, then team A again.


This new system is referred to as ‘ABBA’ and sees team A followed by team B – before team B goes again.


Team A would then get two successive penalties, and so on until there is a winner.


A coin will still be tossed to decide who goes first.
The idea is to stop the team going second having to always, potentially, play catch-up.