It has been said in recent times, but now it’s official: UEFA Executive Committee has approved a proposal to remove the „away goals“ rule from all UEFA club competitions (men, women and youth) as of the qualifying phases of the 2021/22 competitions. Proposal was recommended by UEFA Club Competitions Committee and the UEFA Women’s Football Committee.The good, the bad and everything in between so far in the Euro 2020The away goals rule was applied to determine the winner of a two-legged knockout tie in cases where the two teams had scored the same number of goals on aggregate over the two matches. But, in time, the rule discouraged the home teams from attacking, as an away goal would give their opponents crucial advantage in the return leg. Commenting on the abolishment of the away goals rule, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin said:“The away goals rule has been an intrinsic part of UEFA competitions since it was introduced in 1965. However, the question of its abolition has been debated at various UEFA meetings over the last few years. Although there was no unanimity of views, many coaches, fans and other football stakeholders have questioned its fairness and have expressed a preference for the rule to be abolished. The impact of the rule now runs counter to its original purpose as, in fact, it now dissuades home teams – especially in first legs – from attacking, because they fear conceding a goal that would give their opponents a crucial advantage. There is also criticism of the unfairness, especially in extra time, of obliging the home team to score twice when the away team has scored. It is fair to say that home advantage is nowadays no longer as significant as it once was“ the UEFA President concluded.Statistics since the mid-1970s show a clear trend of continuous reduction in the gap between the number of home-away wins (from 61%-19% to 47%-30%) and the average number of goals per match scored at home-away (from 2.02-0.95 to 1.58-1.15) in men’s competitions.— UEFA (@UEFA) June 24, 2021 With the decision to remove this rule, ties in which the two teams score the same number of goals over the two legs will now be decided by playing two 15-minute periods of extra time at the end of the second leg. In the event that the teams score the same number of goals or fail to score at all during extra time, there will then be a penalty shootout. The new rule will apply from the 2021/22 season.
