Away goals rule

The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that has scored more goals "away from home" wins. This is sometimes expressed by saying that away goals "count double" in the event of a tie, though in practice the team with more away goals is simply recorded as the victor, rather than having additional or 'double' goals added to their total.

The away goals rule is most often invoked in two-leg fixtures, where the initial result is determined by the aggregate score — i.e. the scores of both games are added together. In many competitions, the away goals rule is the first tie-breaker in such cases, with a penalty shootout as the second tie-breaker if each team has scored the same number of away goals. Rules vary as to whether the away goals rule applies only to the end of normal time of the second leg, or applies in extra time as well. It was first introduced by UEFA in the 1965–66 European Cup Winners' Cup.

Since the early 2020s in association football, the application of the away goals rule has been repeatedly scrutinized and ultimately abolished in numerous competitions. There is empirical evidence that the away goals rule reduces the total number of goals scored during the match and benefits visiting teams in the second leg due to the different perception of risk in the first leg and the second leg. There are two other commonly cited reasons for abandonment of the rule. One is the fact of away goals being an anachronism of 1960s football when allocation of stadium capacity specifically for travelling away supporters did not exist as a practice, which is no longer the case with more widely available modes of transportation and ease of travel for supporters. Another more unsportsmanlike reason is the fact that, in the event of extra time at the end of the second leg, the benefit of the away goals rule is not equal to both teams; for instance the team playing away in the first leg only has 90 minutes to score an away goal that is perceived as more valuable, whereas if the tie progresses to extra time at the end of the second leg the other team will have additional 30 minutes (30 minute extra time period following the 90 minutes of regulation time) to score an away goal. The away goals rule was abolished in all UEFA club competitions from the 2021–22 season, then in all AFC club competitions from the 2023–24 season.