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The 2026 FIFA World Cup will have no more draws -- starting with the Round of 32 of the knockout stages between Canada and South Africa.
The score can be tied at the end of regular time, but the match won't end then. It will head to extra time, which can then go to penalties, which all have rules that are important to know.
Below, we've broken it all down, both how extra time will work, and how penalties work if the match gets there.
UPDATE: Canada looks like a late winner in regular time.
World Cup extra time rules for Canada-South Africa
There is no golden goal, also known as "sudden death."
Instead, if the game is tied at the end of regulation, they play two 15-minute halves of extra times. They switch ends at halftime of extra time.
Even if a team scores a goal early in extra time, the entire half hour of extra time has to be played.
There is also stoppage time at the end of each half of extra time, if there were any injuries, substitutions or other stoppages in that span of time.
Teams also get an additional substitute to use during extra time.
If it is still tied after the 30 minutes of extra time, it goes to penalties.
MORE: Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo usage makes no sense
World Cup penalty rules for Canada-South Africa
If the match goes to penalties, it sets up for five penalty takers on each side.
Any player who was on the pitch at the end of extra time can take a penalty.
The teams alternate, and at the end of five kicks apiece, if one team is ahead, they advance.
If the teams are tied after five kicks, they go to sudden death, one round at a time to determine who moves on in the World Cup.
More FIFA World Cup news:
- USA, England can meet on the biggest World Cup stage
- Why Norway brought 600 pounds of salmon to the World Cup
- Eloy Room leads Curacao to astounding World Cup history
- With Messi, history and magic go hand in hand
- Lamine Yamal outdoes Messi, Ronaldo in historic moment for Spanish wunderkind
Billy Heyen
Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who spent his senior year following Jim Boeheim's basketball team around the country. His reporting work has also included extensive high school sports coverage at the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. Adventures in sports writing have also led to in-person coverage of the Buffalo Sabres, Cleveland Guardians, U.S. men's national soccer team and a variety of minor league baseball stories. When people ask if he's seen a movie, the answer is usually "No, I was probably watching sports." Even away from sports, his main hobby is running (much slower than any athlete in these pages).
Source: Sporting News
