Penalty shoot-outs are tough, but the alternating order is fair.

We compare conversion rates of association football (soccer) penalties during regulation or extra time with those during shoot-outs. Our data consists of roughly 50,000 penalties from the eleven most recent seasons in European men's football competitions. About one third of the penalties are fr...

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Main Authors: Silvan Vollmer, David Schoch, Ulrik Brandes
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2024-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0315017
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author Silvan Vollmer
David Schoch
Ulrik Brandes
author_facet Silvan Vollmer
David Schoch
Ulrik Brandes
author_sort Silvan Vollmer
collection DOAJ
description We compare conversion rates of association football (soccer) penalties during regulation or extra time with those during shoot-outs. Our data consists of roughly 50,000 penalties from the eleven most recent seasons in European men's football competitions. About one third of the penalties are from more than 1,500 penalty shoot-outs. We find that shoot-out conversion rates are significantly lower, even for regular penalty takers, and attribute this to worse performance of shooters rather than better performance of goalkeepers. We also find that, statistically, there is no advantage for either team in the usual alternating shooting order. Complemented by a number of detailed observations, these main findings underline that penalty shoot-outs represent a different condition requiring dedicated means of training and coaching.
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institution Kabale University
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publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
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spelling doaj-art-c2743ccf77bd4106a7e0db3f8729d4d12024-12-13T05:31:46ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032024-01-011912e031501710.1371/journal.pone.0315017Penalty shoot-outs are tough, but the alternating order is fair.Silvan VollmerDavid SchochUlrik BrandesWe compare conversion rates of association football (soccer) penalties during regulation or extra time with those during shoot-outs. Our data consists of roughly 50,000 penalties from the eleven most recent seasons in European men's football competitions. About one third of the penalties are from more than 1,500 penalty shoot-outs. We find that shoot-out conversion rates are significantly lower, even for regular penalty takers, and attribute this to worse performance of shooters rather than better performance of goalkeepers. We also find that, statistically, there is no advantage for either team in the usual alternating shooting order. Complemented by a number of detailed observations, these main findings underline that penalty shoot-outs represent a different condition requiring dedicated means of training and coaching.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0315017
spellingShingle Silvan Vollmer
David Schoch
Ulrik Brandes
Penalty shoot-outs are tough, but the alternating order is fair.
PLoS ONE
title Penalty shoot-outs are tough, but the alternating order is fair.
title_full Penalty shoot-outs are tough, but the alternating order is fair.
title_fullStr Penalty shoot-outs are tough, but the alternating order is fair.
title_full_unstemmed Penalty shoot-outs are tough, but the alternating order is fair.
title_short Penalty shoot-outs are tough, but the alternating order is fair.
title_sort penalty shoot outs are tough but the alternating order is fair
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0315017
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AT davidschoch penaltyshootoutsaretoughbutthealternatingorderisfair
AT ulrikbrandes penaltyshootoutsaretoughbutthealternatingorderisfair