How Is Football Scored?

A football match lasts 90 minutes, divided into two halves of 45 minutes each, with a 15-minute half-time break in between.

A goal is scored when the ball crosses the goal line between the goalposts and under the crossbar, provided no infringement (foul, offside, handball) occurred in the build-up. Each goal counts as 1 point — there are no 2-point or 3-point goals in football.

The team with more goals at full time wins the match. If both teams have the same number of goals, the result is a draw (in league matches) or the game proceeds to extra time and/or penalties (in knockout competitions).

Key facts:

• A match is played by two teams of 11 players each (including one goalkeeper).
• Only the referee can award or disallow a goal.
• Since 2012, goal-line technology (GLT) is used in top competitions to confirm whether the ball crossed the line. VAR (Video Assistant Referee) can also review goal decisions.

The Laws of the Game 2026/27 have been binding on every affiliated competition since 1 July 2026. A goal is still worth 1 point and a match is still 90 minutes, so nothing in the arithmetic of the scoreline moved. What moved is the cost of wasting time and the bookkeeping of a missed penalty.

Three of the changes create a restart for the opposing team where there was previously only a caution or a warning. That is the part a fan notices first: under the 2026/27 Laws, a team that dawdles over a goal kick can concede a corner — a scoring chance handed over by the clock, not by the play.

Two further sending-off offences were approved at an IFAB Special Meeting in Vancouver on 28 April 2026 and circulated on 19 May 2026 as circular no. 33: covering the mouth when confronting an opponent, and leaving the field of play in protest at a referee's decision. Both are competition options, meaning the competition organiser decides whether they apply, and both were in force at the 2026 World Cup.

The same circular rewrote the arithmetic of Law 3. The seven-player minimum is now read excluding temporary dismissals and the one-minute periods off the field created by the new substitution and treatment protocols — without that carve-out, the new protocols could themselves have pushed a short-handed side below the legal minimum. Law 7 supplies the deterrent at the other end: in principle, a team responsible for a match being abandoned because it has fewer than seven players forfeits the match.

For the officiating mechanics behind these changes, see the football referee guide; for how they were rolled out at a single tournament, see the new rules at the 2026 World Cup.

The clock in football never stops during play — it runs continuously from 0:00 to 45:00 in each half. To compensate for time lost during the half, the referee adds stoppage time (also called injury time or added time) at the end of each half.

What causes stoppage time?

• Substitutions
• Assessment and removal of injured players
• Time-wasting
• Goal celebrations
• VAR reviews
• Any other cause of lost playing time

The fourth official displays the minimum number of added minutes on an electronic board (e.g., +3). The actual stoppage time is at the referee's discretion and can exceed the displayed amount.

How it looks on the clock: When the clock passes 45:00 in the first half, it continues counting: 45:01, 45:02... On TV broadcasts and scoreboards, this is typically shown as 45+1:00, 45+2:30, etc. The same applies at 90:00 for the second half.

Recent trend: Since the 2022 FIFA World Cup, referees have been instructed to add more stoppage time to account for all lost playing time. It is now common to see 8–12 minutes of added time in a single half, compared to the traditional 2–4 minutes.

2026/27 — attacking the causes instead of the symptom: The Laws of the Game 2026/27 target the delays themselves rather than compensating for them afterwards. A team that stalls over a throw-in or a goal kick now faces a visible five-second countdown from a raised hand; if the ball is not in play by zero, the throw-in is awarded to the opponents and the goal kick becomes a corner kick for the opponents. A player being substituted must be off the field within ten seconds of the board, or the substitute has to wait until the first stoppage after one minute of running time. A player treated or assessed on the pitch — or whose injury stopped play — must leave and stay off for one minute after the restart, with narrow exceptions including an injured goalkeeper and an injury caused by a foul punished with a card.

The caution for delaying the restart has been narrowed to match. Because handing the throw-in or the corner to the opponents is itself the punishment, a player is now cautioned only if they excessively delay the restart beyond the countdown.

Extra time is played only in knockout matches (cup ties, tournament elimination rounds) when the score is level after 90 minutes. League matches that end in a draw stay as draws.

Extra time consists of two periods of 15 minutes each, for a total of 30 additional minutes:

• Extra time 1st half: 90:00 → 105:00
• Extra time 2nd half: 105:00 → 120:00

There is a 1-minute break between the two extra time halves (teams switch ends but do not leave the pitch). A short break also occurs between the end of regular time and the start of extra time.

Stoppage time is also added at the end of each extra time period.

Additional substitution: Most competitions allow teams an extra (6th) substitution during extra time, on top of the standard 5 substitutions in regular time.

Historical note: The "golden goal" rule (first goal wins immediately in extra time) was used by FIFA from 1993 to 2004 but has been abolished. Today, both extra time halves are always played in full, regardless of whether a goal is scored. These knockout rules apply once the bracket starts, such as the new Round of 32 at the 2026 World Cup.

If the score remains level after extra time (or directly after 90 minutes, depending on competition rules), the match is decided by a penalty shootout.

Format:

1. A coin toss decides which team kicks first and which goal is used.
2. Each team takes 5 penalties, alternating kicks (Team A → Team B → Team A → Team B...).
3. Each penalty is taken from the penalty spot (11 metres / 12 yards from the goal line).
4. The goalkeeper must remain on the goal line until the ball is kicked.

Winning the shootout:

• The team that scores more goals out of 5 penalties wins.
• If one team gains an unassailable lead (the other team cannot catch up even with remaining kicks), the shootout ends early. For example, if Team A leads 3-0 after 3 rounds, Team B can score at most 2 more — the shootout is over.

Sudden death: If the score is still level after 5 penalties each, the shootout enters sudden death: teams take one penalty each in alternating rounds. If one team scores and the other misses, the shooting team wins immediately.

Who takes penalties? Any player on the pitch at the end of extra time can take a penalty. All 11 eligible players must take a kick before any player can take a second one.

ABBA format (rare): Some competitions have experimented with an ABBA order (Team A, then Team B twice, then Team A twice...) to reduce the advantage of going first, but this is not widely adopted.

2026/27 — the accidental double touch: Under Law 10.3 as rewritten for 2026/27, a kicker who accidentally kicks the ball with both feet at once, or whose non-kicking foot or leg brushes the ball immediately after the strike, is no longer automatically punished. The outcome now depends on the result: if the ball enters the goal, the kick is retaken; if it does not, the kick is recorded as missed. Only a deliberate second touch is treated as an offence. In normal play, Law 14 applies the same logic, except that a non-scoring attempt gives the defending team an indirect free kick instead of a mark in the shoot-out column.

This is the clarification IFAB first issued as circular no. 31 after Julián Álvarez's disallowed spot-kick for Atlético Madrid against Real Madrid in the March 2025 Champions League shoot-out — now written into the Laws themselves. The same edition removed the automatic caution for a kicker who commits an offence at the same moment as the goalkeeper.

Football uses a card system to discipline players for fouls and misconduct.

Yellow card (caution):

• Given for offences such as reckless fouls, deliberate handball, time-wasting, dissent, simulation (diving), or entering/leaving the pitch without permission.
• A player who receives 2 yellow cards in the same match is automatically shown a red card and sent off.
• Yellow cards typically carry over to future matches in a tournament (e.g., accumulating 2 yellows across different group-stage games results in a 1-match suspension).

Red card (sending off):

• Given for serious foul play, violent conduct, denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (DOGSO), offensive language, or receiving a second yellow card.
• The player must leave the pitch immediately and cannot be replaced — the team plays with 10 players (or fewer if more red cards follow).
• A red card typically results in a minimum 1-match ban, with longer suspensions for violent conduct.

Cards and the scoreboard: Cards do not directly affect the score, but they affect the number of players on the pitch. Playing with fewer players is a significant disadvantage, which often impacts scoring opportunities. At a tournament, cards can even decide who advances: yellow and red cards feed the fair-play group-stage tiebreakers at the 2026 World Cup.

2026/27 — fewer automatic cautions, two more red cards:

• DOGSO with advantage played. If the referee waves play on after a foul that denied an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and the attacking team then scores, the offender receives no disciplinary sanction at all. Before the change, a yellow card followed regardless. The logic is that the offence did not, in the end, deny anything.
• Failed handball on the line. A player who unsuccessfully tries to stop a goal with the hand or arm is no longer cautioned for unsporting behaviour where the referee plays advantage. Handling the ball in an attempt to score remains a caution, whether or not it works.
• Delaying the restart. The caution now applies only to an excessive delay, because the new countdown already punishes the delay with a restart for the opponents.
• Covering the mouth when communicating with an opponent in a provocative, derisory or inflammatory manner is a sending-off offence (competition option). The offence is the concealment, not the words — hiding the mouth makes it impossible to establish what was said.
• Leaving the field of play in protest at a referee's decision, including a decision for play to continue or restart, is also a sending-off offence (competition option), as is instructing or encouraging team-mates to do so. A team official who incites it is sent off even if nobody actually walks.

A second yellow can now be reviewed. The 2026/27 VAR protocol extends the red-card category to a red card resulting from a clearly incorrect second caution, and widens mistaken identity to a card shown to the wrong player of either team. The offence behind the card is still not reviewable — only the error in the card itself.

The offside rule is the most misunderstood rule in football, but the core concept is straightforward:

A player is in an offside position if, at the moment the ball is played to them by a teammate:

1. They are in the opponent's half of the pitch, AND
2. They are closer to the opponent's goal line than both the ball and the second-to-last defender (the last defender is usually the goalkeeper).

Being offside is NOT automatically a foul. A player is only penalised if they are in an offside position AND actively involved in play — by playing or touching the ball, interfering with an opponent, or gaining an advantage from their position.

You cannot be offside from:

• A goal kick
• A throw-in
• A corner kick

What happens when offside is called? The referee awards an indirect free kick to the defending team from the spot where the offside player was standing.

VAR and offside: In top competitions, VAR uses camera systems and calibrated lines to check offside decisions down to the centimetre. Semi-automated offside technology (SAOT), introduced at the 2022 World Cup, uses limb-tracking cameras to detect offside positions automatically. The Laws of the Game 2026/27 wrote this permission into Law 5 itself: a competition may use technology to help the referee make or change decisions on the VAR protocol, on ball in and out of play (including goal-line technology) and on offside (including SAOT). Anything outside that list remains off-limits to match officials.

Myth 1: "A goal can be worth more than 1 point." False. Every goal in football is worth exactly 1 point. There is no equivalent of basketball's 3-pointer or rugby's try/conversion system. An own goal, a penalty, a header from 2 yards, or a 40-yard screamer — all count as 1 goal.

Myth 2: "The away goals rule still applies." The away goals rule (which gave extra weight to goals scored away from home in two-legged ties) was abolished by UEFA in 2021 and by most other confederations shortly after. Ties that are level on aggregate now go to extra time.

Myth 3: "Extra time is always played when the match is drawn." Extra time is only played in knockout/elimination matches. In league football, a draw after 90 minutes is a final result — each team receives 1 point (in a standard 3-points-for-a-win system).

Myth 4: "Two yellow cards in different matches have no consequence." In most tournament formats, yellow cards accumulate across matches. For example, in the UEFA Champions League group stage, receiving 3 yellow cards across different matches triggers an automatic 1-match ban.

Myth 5: "VAR can never touch a second yellow card." This was true until 1 July 2026. Under the Laws of the Game 2026/27, a red card that results from a clearly incorrect second caution is a reviewable incident, and so is a card shown to the wrong player of either team. What VAR still cannot do is re-examine the offence itself once the card is correctly attributed.

Let's walk through a complete knockout match to see every scoring scenario in action.

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1st Half (0:00–45:00+)

Team A scores at 23:00 from open play. Score: 1-0. Team B equalises at 41:00 with a header from a corner kick. Score: 1-1. The referee adds 3 minutes of stoppage time. No goals in added time.

Half-time: 1-1.

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2nd Half (45:00–90:00+)

Team A's defender receives a yellow card at 58:00 for a reckless tackle. Team B scores from a penalty kick at 72:00. Score: 1-2. The same Team A defender receives a second yellow card at 81:00 → automatic red card. Team A plays with 10 players. Team A equalises at 88:00 despite being down to 10. Score: 2-2. The referee adds 7 minutes of stoppage time (due to substitutions, VAR check, and the red card incident). No goals in added time.

Full time: 2-2. Because this is a knockout match, the game goes to extra time.

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Extra Time 1st Half (90:00–105:00+)

No goals scored. Score: 2-2.

Extra Time 2nd Half (105:00–120:00+)

Team B scores at 113:00. Score: 2-3. Team A equalises at 119:00 in the final minute. Score: 3-3.

Both extra time halves are played in full (no golden goal rule).

After extra time: 3-3. The match goes to a penalty shootout.

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Penalty Shootout

Round	Team A	Team B
1	Scored	Scored
2	Scored	Missed
3	Missed	Scored
4	Scored	Scored
5	Scored	Missed

Result: Team A wins 4-3 on penalties.

Team A advances to the next round. The official match result is recorded as 3-3 (4-3 on penalties).

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What the 2026/27 Laws would change in this match

The scoreline is identical, but three moments are now handled differently. The second yellow card at 81:00 is reviewable: if the caution was clearly incorrect, VAR may recommend that the red card be rescinded. The 7 minutes of stoppage time would likely shrink, because the substitutions, the treatment and the delayed restarts that generated it are now punished at source rather than paid back at the end. And in the shoot-out, a "Missed" entry can arise from an accidental double touch on a kick that stayed out — while the same accident on a kick that went in would have earned a retake instead.