To the question “what is the most exciting thing about a football match?” the answer “Russian roulette penalty” flies spontaneously from everyone’s lips. Even people who are not football experts will stand in front of the TV and watch with dismay the final of a football game in which penalties are decided, even if there is not the slightest emotional involvement with the competing teams or if it is not a particularly important game. This is a thriller finale that with a sharp sword resolves disagreements not resolved in 120 minutes of combat, and riveted the audience with its painful development.

Emotions are always running high, both during executions and at the end of the process. One team will celebrate by idolizing the last-minute hero, whether it’s the perfect finisher or the goalie who makes the save. The reverse side of the same medal, it is always difficult for the loser, especially for the player who at the critical moment could not correctly mark and “miss” the goal with the ball, since the heavy burden always falls on the performer, and not on the goalkeeper.

The image of Roberto Baggio, staring blankly at the ball flying over the Tafarel goal, is the most powerful moment of the 1994 World Cup final in the USA between Brazil and Italy. This scene haunts the “Little Buddha” even now. Baggio scored 291 goals in 643 professional matches, another 27 goals in 56 matches for Italy, won two championships, the UEFA Cup plus the Ballon d’Or and yet few people remember and remember him for all this. The imprint of the missed penalty moment in that unforgettable final overshadows everything else.

Legendary was the fate of iconic Chelsea captain John Terry when he slipped in the final shoot-out to give Manchester United the Champions League trophy in the 2008 final at Luzhniki in Moscow. The list of such tragic moments is endless, even at the highest level, where the main qualification, the World Cup or the Champions League is decided.

The main person responsible for this painful process, which caused so many emotions around the world, has not been with us for a year now. Joseph Duggan, a prominent figure in the Football Association of England, passed away last year on 22 March 2022 at the age of 93 after first receiving recognition for his persistence in creating the perfect system to determine the winner of the No Tomorrow Games. who drew even after half an hour of extra time.

This decision was given several decades after the expansion of football on a global level. The idea was born in Duggan’s head at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, when the game between Israel and Bulgaria ended in a draw and there had to be a winner. Instead of the usual and equally useless coin toss or a repeat of the match due to lack of time, two cards were placed in the sombrero that day, one word each. The captain of Israel put NO, YES left for the Bulgarian, and thus his team advanced to the quarter-final phase of the competition.

The whole scene alienated Duggan, who was looking for a more fair and football-friendly solution. He eventually found it with the help of a friend named Mikael Almog, with whom they inspired the penalty shoot-out process, set the rules and started the race to convince FIFA to go ahead with their idea. Two years later, the innovation process was incorporated into the regulations and soon captivated football fans, causing a peak of interest in games where a winner was supposed to appear, but in the competitive struggle he was not revealed.

The first game where penalties were decided was in the English League Cup in 1970 between Manchester United and Hull. George Best was the first player in history to hit the target, while Dennis Lowe was the first to miss. Ian McKenny saved his shot and became the first goalkeeper to save a penalty in Russian roulette when Manchester City won the game and advanced to the final of the competition.

For reference: the idea of ​​execution was born almost 80 years earlier from a drop that overflowed a glass. In the early years of football, it was possible for defenders to commit a foul in the penalty area of ​​a player who was about to score a goal, and the only penalty for their team was a simple foul. On Valentine’s Day in February 1891, in the FA Cup quarter-finals, Notts County were leading Stoke City 1-0 when, shortly before the end, one of the players slipped a certain goal on the line. A free kick was awarded that was not converted because the goalkeeper and ten Notts County players were in front of the goal line – where to pass the ball?

William McGann, Milford goalkeeper and member of the PO of Ireland, was also a spectator for the match. Considering this development to be wholly unfair to Stoke, it was finally decided, at his own suggestion and insistence, that most infringements in the penalty area would be taken from a free-kick, with only the goalkeeper as the opponent and the ball anywhere up to that point. as long as he was 12 meters from the gate. The rest of the players had to be only 6 yards from the ball.

The rules have been improved over the years, mostly in favor of the kicker to increase the chances of scoring a goal. At some point, a white bullet was introduced that determined the point of execution exactly on the axis 11 meters from the goal line, a semicircle of the square was made in 1937 to keep other players out and the executioner and goalkeeper could be more focused. it was determined under what conditions a repetition of the execution is recommended.

The most significant change was the ban on the goalkeeper going over the goal line before the shot had been taken. And until then, when the performer took off, the goalkeeper could come out and close the field for him. The reason for the substitution was Willie Foulkes, a monster Sheffield United and Chelsea goalkeeper, 1.90m tall and weighing 150kg. He was very agile for his size, and running on the kicker intimidated him and usually caused him to miss until the goalkeeper had to step on his goal line during the shot.

According to statistics, the chances of scoring a goal from a penalty are about 76%, that is, 3 out of 4 shots hit the target and only one goalkeeper either saves or misses the target. She is “the best penalty taker” and her award is considered the most obvious goal-scoring opportunity.

The accumulation of penalties in the final of a draw that should have resulted in a win was initially met with disbelief, although it was clearly a fairer procedure than a coin toss, a draw, or a replay. Each launch lasts about a minute, and this delay annoyed the players and the platform at first. However, this process soon migrated to football and is now considered an integral part of the game, a touch of intense tension that no one wants to miss!