Officially. UEFA have abolished the away goal rule in all their competitions

24.06.2021 18:15

Photo by uefa.com

Following the recommendations of the Club Competition Committee and the Women's Football Committee, the UEFA Executive Committee, of which UAF President Andrii Pavelko is a member, approved on 24 June a proposal to abolish the away goal rule in all its club competitions (women, men and youth), starting from qualifying games of the season-2021/2022, the UEFA official website reports..

The away goal rule was used to determine the winner in two-match confrontations if both teams scored the same number of goals in the sum of two meetings. In this case, the team that scored more goals on the road was considered the winner and advanced to the next round. If teams scored an equal number of goals at home and away until the end of regular time, extra time was awarded. If no one scored in overtime, the fate of the confrontation was decided by a series of penalties.

According to this decision, in the future, away goals will not have additional significance in two-match confrontations. If after the end of the main time of the match the score for the sum of two meetings is equal, two additional halves of 15 minutes will be assigned. If the teams do not score or score the same number of goals in extra time, an 11-meter series will be held to determine the winner of the pair.

As away goals will no longer be of additional importance, they will also be removed from the criteria used to allocate places in groups when two or more teams score the same number of points. At the same time, they will be left as an additional criterion for all matches of the group stage, if it is not possible to distribute teams according to other criteria (more goals on the road in all matches of the group stage). Thus, the maximum number of sports criteria will be preserved.