overtime (sport)

Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required to have a clear winner, as in single-elimination tournaments where only one team or players can advance to the next round or win the tournament.

The rules of overtime or extra time vary between sports and even different competitions. Some may employ "sudden death", where the first player or team who scores immediately wins the game. In others, play continues until a specified time has elapsed, and only then is the winner declared. If the contest remains tied after the extra session, depending on the rules, the match may immediately end as a draw, additional periods may be played, or a different tiebreaking procedure such as a penalty shootout may be used instead.

The terms ''overtime'' and ''in overtime'' (abbreviated "OT" or "IOT") are primarily used in North America, whereas the terms ''extra time'' and ''after extra time'' (abbreviated "a.e.t.") are usually used in other continents.

Association football

Knock-out contests (including professional competition)

In association football knockout competitions or competition stages, teams play an extra 30 minutes, called extra time, when the deciding leg (or replay of a tie) has not produced a winner by the end of normal or full-time. It follows a short break (traditionally 5 minutes) where players remain on or around the field of play and comprises two 15-minute periods, with teams changing ends in between. Although the Laws of the Game state that extra time is one of the approved methods to decide a winner, competitions are not bound to adopt extra time, and each competition is free to choose any method designated in the Laws of the Game to decide a winner.

In a one-off tie or deciding replay, level scores nearly always go to extra time but this only applies to the FIFA competitions and the first-tier continental national team competitions. In games played over two legs at the continental levels (such as the three–tier men's continental club competitions and the women's continental club competitions), domestic levels (such as Copa del Rey, DFB-Pokal and the Coppa Italia semi-finals or Bundesliga relegation and promotion play-offs) or even at lower levels (such as the English Football League play-offs), teams only play extra time in the second leg where the aggregate score – then normally followed by an away goals rule – has not produced a winner first, however starting the 2021–22 season, UEFA decided to abolish it for all club competitions and changed with the penalty shootout if the aggregate is still tied after the extra time. Ties in the FA Cup used to be decided by as many replays as necessary until one produces a winner within normal time rather than have any extra time or shootouts though, nowadays, replays are limited to just the one with the second going to extra time if teams are still level. Equally, CONMEBOL has historically never used extra time in any of the competitions it directly organises, such as the Copa Libertadores. Today, it uses extra time only in the final match of a competition. The score in games or ties resorting to extra time are often recorded with the abbreviation a.e.t. (after extra time) usually accompanying the earlier score after regulation time. The two-legged format for the club competition finals with this rule is still used in AFC and CONCACAF club competitions with a away goals rule still takes place.

Ties that are still without a winner after extra time are usually broken by kicks from the penalty spot, commonly called a penalty shootout. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, many international matches tried to reduce this by employing the golden goal (also called "sudden death") or silver goal rules (the game ending if a team has the lead after the first 15-minute period of extra time), but competitions have not retained these. The term "asdet" refers to the result of a penalty shootout "after sudden death extra time" and after the away goal rules abolished by UEFA, all sanctioned club competitions decide the knockout ties with the penalty shoot-out in the 2021-22 season if the aggregate remains unchanged after the 15-minute extra time.

U.S. collegiate rules

Up until 2021, under NCAA college soccer rules, all matches that remained tied after 90 minutes had an overtime period. A sudden-death golden goal rule was applied, with the game ending as soon as an overtime goal was scored. If neither team scored in the two 10-minute halves, the match ended in a draw unless it was a conference or national championship tournament match. A playoff game tied after two overtime periods then moved to a penalty kick shoot-out with the winner determined by the teams alternating kicks from the penalty mark.

Since the 2022 men's and women's season, the golden goal has been abolished during the regular season. Matches that ended in a draw during a conference or national tournament match involve two 10-minute periods, but no golden goal (following FIFA's extra time rules since 2005). A playoff game tied after two overtime periods still moves to a penalty kick shoot-out with the winner determined by the teams alternating kicks from the penalty mark.

U.S. high school rules

High school rules vary depending on the state and conference, but most will have a sudden-death overtime procedure wherein the game ends upon scoring a golden goal, although in some instances the overtime will go until completion with the team in the lead after time expires (i.e., silver goal rules) declared the winner. The overtime period length may vary, but it is commonly 10 minutes long. Depending on the state, if the game is still tied at the end of the first overtime:

* As many additional overtime periods – golden or silver goal rules – may be played as needed to determine a winner.
* After one or more overtime periods result in the score remaining tied, a shootout procedure may be played. In a shootout, the coaches or team captains select five players to shoot penalty kicks with teams alternating kicks from the penalty mark in an attempt to put the ball into the net. The procedure continues until each team has taken five kicks, or, if one side has scored more successful kicks, the other could not possibly reach with its remaining kicks.
* If both teams make the same number of successful penalty kicks after all eligible players have taken their first kick, the procedure repeats; the teams are not required to follow the same order of kickers as was used for the first kick, and may replace one or more of the original kickers. The procedure repeats until one side has successfully converted more penalty kicks in a set of five attempts.
* Depending on the state or conference, the game may go directly to a penalty shoot-out, rather than playing overtime.

American and Canadian football

National Football League

The National Football League (NFL) introduced sudden-death overtime for any divisional tiebreak games beginning in 1940, and for championship games beginning in 1946. The first postseason game to be played under these rules was the 1958 NFL Championship Game between the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants (the "Greatest Game Ever Played").

In 1974, the NFL adopted sudden-death overtime for regular season and preseason games: if the score is tied after regulation time, one additional period is played.

Until the 2016 season, the period was 15 minutes in all games: in , it was changed to 10 minutes in regular season games, while overtime in preseason games was abolished from 1920 to and since , and it remains 15 minutes for playoff games.

The captains meet with the officials for a coin toss, and then one side kicks off to the other, as at the start of a game. Under the original regular-season format used through 2011, whoever scored first won the game. Additionally, during regular season games, fourth-quarter timing rules were in effect throughout the period, including a two-minute warning if necessary. In the regular season, if the overtime period expired without either side scoring, the game ended in a tie.

Because there cannot be a tie in the playoffs, the teams would switch ends of the field and start multiple 15-minute overtime periods until one side scored, and all clock rules were as if a game had started over. Should a tie remain after overtime, this procedure repeats in true sudden death thereafter. Therefore, if a game was still tied with two minutes to go in any even overtime, there would be a two-minute warning (but not during the first overtime period as in the regular season). If it was still tied at the end of double overtime, the team that lost the overtime coin toss would have the option to kick or receive, or to choose which direction to play; at the end of quadruple overtime, there is a new coin toss, and play continues.

In March 2010, NFL owners voted to amend overtime rules for postseason games; the changes were extended to the regular season in 2012.

The changes preserved sudden death with one notable exception: if the team that receives the opening kickoff scores a field goal, the team that initially kicked off gets one possession to tie or win the game; any other score on the opening possession ends the game immediately. In postseason games, if both teams are still tied after the first overtime, the procedure is repeated (but in true sudden death hereafter) until a winner is declared. In regular-season games, if the score is tied after 10 minutes has expired, the game ends in a tie.

As no 2010 postseason game went into overtime, the first overtime game played after the implementation of this rule came in the wild-card round in 2011. Incidentally, this was also the shortest overtime in NFL history; Pittsburgh Steelers kicker Shaun Suisham kicked off and the ball went out of the back of the end zone, resulting in a touchback and no time off the clock. Tim Tebow, then with the Denver Broncos, threw an 80-yard touchdown pass on the first play to Demaryius Thomas to give the Broncos the win in only 11 seconds.

The first time the "first-possession field goal" rule was enforced occurred on 9 September 2012, the first week of the season, in a game between the Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars. Minnesota's Blair Walsh kicked a 38-yard field goal on the Vikings' first drive. When Jacksonville regained possession, they failed to gain a first down, losing possession and the game on a failed fourth-down conversion.

The first overtime in which both teams scored occurred on 18 November 2012, in a game between the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars; the Texans won 43–37. The first overtime game that ended in a tie after both teams scored in overtime occurred on 24 November 2013, when the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers played to a 26–all tie.

On 5 February 2017, a Super Bowl went into overtime for the first time, with the New England Patriots defeating the Atlanta Falcons, 34–28; the Patriots scored a touchdown on their initial possession, so the Falcons never received the ball in overtime.

A rule change gives both teams one possession to start the first overtime in playoffs, no matter whether or not if a touchdown is scored first.

Other professional football leagues

The Arena Football League and NFL Europe used a variant in which each team is guaranteed one possession. Whoever is leading after one possession won the game; if the teams remain tied after one possession, the game went to sudden death. This procedure was used by the United Football League in its inaugural 2009 season. This included both games of all semifinals series. All overtime periods thereafter were true sudden death periods.

The short-lived World Football League, for its inaugural 1974 season (the same year the NFL established sudden death in the regular season), used a fifteen-minute quarter of extra time, divided into two halves. It was not sudden death.

The New York Pro Football League, a 1910s-era league that eventually had several of its teams join the NFL, used the replay to settle ties in its playoff tournament. The replay was used in the 1919 tournament to decide the championship between the Buffalo Prospects and the Rochester Jeffersons. The teams had played to a tie on Thanksgiving; Buffalo won the replay 20–0 to win the championship.

The United States Football League settles ties this way: teams will try three rounds of 2-point conversions from the three-yard line. Coin toss is called by the visiting team; winner of the toss can choose to possess the ball first or defend. Whoever scores the most points after three rounds wins it; otherwise, teams play sudden-death rounds until one team scores. One timeout can be called per overtime round.

College, high school, and Canadian football

In college (since the 1996 season) and high school football, as well as the Canadian Football League (since the 2000 season) and the short-lived Alliance of American Football, an ''overtime procedure'' is used to determine the winner. This method is sometimes referred to as a "Kansas Playoff", or "Kansas Plan" because of its origins for high school football in that state. A brief summary of the rules:
*A coin toss determines which side attempts to score first, and at which end zone the scores are attempted.
*Each team in turn receives one possession (similar to innings in baseball), starting with first-and-10 from a fixed point on the opponent's side of the field:
** Under NCAA rules, the first possession of overtime begins at the opponent's 25-yard line. When overtime was introduced, all possessions for each team started at that point, but the procedure for subsequent overtimes has changed twice since 2019.
*** In 2019 and 2020, the first four possessions for each team (if necessary) started at the opponent's 25. All subsequent possessions were two-point conversion attempts taken from the 3-yard line, the standard starting point for that play under NCAA rules, and were scored as conversions.
*** Since 2021, the first two possessions for each team start at the opponent's 25. All subsequent possessions are two-point conversion attempts.
** Under standard high school football rules, the possession begins at the 10-yard line. However, the high school rulebook only recommends the overtime procedure and allows state associations to use their own; the 15-, 20-, and 25-yard lines are variously used. The AAF also used the 10-yard line as its starting point.
** In the CFL, where a single point can be scored on a punt, the possession begins at the 35-yard line.
*The play clock runs as normal. There is no game clock, and all play is otherwise untimed.
*A team's possession ends when it (or the defense) scores, misses a field goal, or turns over the ball (either on downs or by the defense otherwise gaining possession).
*In high school, college and the CFL, a field goal can be kicked at any time. Thus, if the first team fails to score, the opponent, already usually in field goal range, can end the game by kicking one (in the CFL, as previously noted, one can do the same with a single). In the AAF, no field goals were allowed at any time during the playoff.
*As usual, a touchdown by the offense is followed by a try for one or two points. In NCAA football, since 2021, teams must attempt a two-point conversion after a touchdown in double overtime; all overtime procedures thereafter consist of two-point conversion attempts and are scored as such. Since 2010, CFL teams must also attempt the two-point conversion after any touchdown in overtime. The AAF required two-point conversions after any touchdown.
*In college football, the defense may score a touchdown on a play on which it gains possession by turnover; such a play will satisfy the condition of each team having a possession and will therefore end the game. In high school football, the defense is generally not allowed to score if it gains possession, although the Oregon School Activities Association adopted the college rule experimentally in 2005, and the two main high school governing bodies in Texas, the University Interscholastic League and Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, use NCAA football rules (as did Massachusetts through the 2018 season, after which it adopted standard high school rules). If scoring is not allowed or the turnover play does not end with a score, regardless of the eventual position of the ball at the end of the play, the team assumes offense and will begin their procedure from the specified position on the field.
*Each team receives one charged time-out per offensive or defensive series (except in the CFL).
*If the score remains tied at the end of the first overtime period, the procedure is repeated. The team with the second possession in one overtime will have the first possession in the next overtime.
*In the CFL, there is a limit of two overtime procedures in regular-season games, and if the scores are still level, the game is a tie, but in playoff games, overtime periods are continued until a winner is determined. The AAF did the same, except that regular-season games ended after only one overtime procedure, regardless of the score. (The AAF folded before it ever played any playoff games.)
*In American college and high school football, the overtime periods are continued until a winner is determined.
*All points scored in overtime count as if they were scored in regulation. (This is in contrast to the analogous