ABBA PENALTIES: YAY OR NAH?

There is a new style of penalty in town. It is called The ABBA Penalty system.

Soccerhubng as always, is here to give you full information about this new development. Questions like what it is and what competitions it will be implemented; among others will all be answered here.

Already being used in England as seen in the Community Shield Match that was played between Arsenal and Chelsea with The Gunners; eventual winners through the new penalty system. It has also been previously used in other competitions like the Premier League Asia Trophy and even recently this summer in the U-20 World Cup.

So what is the ABBA Penalty System?

Adopted from Tennis in situations of a “Tie Break”, the ABBA Penalty system is under examination by different football bodies.

This system of taking penalties introduces an order that contradicts the traditional “turn by turn” penalty system, whereby after a team takes her penalty, the other team is followed and it goes on until a winner is decided. Rather, with the new system, after the first team has taken her penalty, the second team takes two penalties in succession and then back to the first team again to take two in succession until a winner is decided.

This new system was sanctioned for trials by the football decision makers; The International Football Association Board (IFAB).

How does it work?

First, there must be a situation whereby there is need for a match to be decided with a penalty shootout. For instance, in cases where both teams were unable to produce a winner in open play, a penalty shootout would be used to decide a winner.

Afterwards, the officiating referee will toss a coin to determine what sides of the pitch will be used for the penalty shootout and then another coin will be tossed to choose who will be the first team to take the penalty.

The system requires the first team to take her penalty once afterwards, the opponent takes theirs twice and then the first team comes again to take her penalty but unlike the first time, the first team will take her penalties twice and this goes on up till the 10^th penalty is taken and if after the 10^th kick, a winner is not decided, the trend goes on until a winner is decided.

To get a clearer depiction of the new system, assume Team A is to take the first penalty, and then followed by Team B. In that case, after Team A takes the first penalty, Team B takes theirs twice and then Team A returns to take theirs twice and so will Team B also until a winner is decided. Hence the origin of the name “ABBA”

Why the need for this new penalty system?

This trial is part of the IFAB’s “play fair” initiative, and the European football body UEFA has endorsed it. The IFAB felt that the existing penalty shootout system gave the team taking the first kick an unfair advantage.

“The hypothesis is that the player taking the second kick in the pair is under greater mental pressure, because if the opposition's first penalty in the pair has been successful, a miss by the second penalty-taker in the pair could mean the immediate loss of a match for his team, especially from the fourth pair of penalties onwards – i.e. the 7th and 8th spot kicks,” UEFA said in a release in its website.”

When was The ABBA Penalty System first used?

After being approved for trials by IFAB, it was used in the UEFA European Women’s U-17 finals at Czech earlier this year. It was also used in the Community Shield Final with Arsenal running out as eventual winners. Before the community shield final, it has been used elsewhere in the Premier League Asia Trophy this summer.

What competitions will this system be used in the 2017/2018 season?

Already used this summer by UEFA in this just concluded U-20 World Cup, it is not yet been ascertained that other UEFA competitions will implement this new system. But the English Football League will use it across all its competitions this season. This means that the League Cup and the EFL Championship (Play offs) will be using this system. Though, it has not been announced if it will be used in the FA Cup this season as the competition is also trying out a new system of its own with the VAR Technology set to debut in England this season from the third round of the competition.

SO WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THIS NEW DEVELOPMENT? IS THE ABBA PENALTY SYSTEM A “NAH” OR A “YAY”? PLEASE STATE YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENT SECTION BELOW…