Tiebreaker
In games and sport, a tiebreaker or tiebreak is used to determine a winner from among players or teams when their scores are tied at the end of a contest, or a set of contests.
General operation
In matches
In some situations, the tiebreaker may consist of another round of play. For example, if contestants are tied at the end of a
In tournaments and playoffs
In some sports,
The statistics that are compared may include total goals scored, the record between the two tied teams, and other factors. In many of these tiebreaking rules, if the teams remain tied after comparing all of these statistics, then the tie is broken at random using a
In some sports leagues, a one-game playoff, or occasionally a "best-of" series format, may be played instead to break the tie.
In promotion/relegation and draft order
Some sports leagues may use tiebreaking rules to help determine which teams that have the same win–loss record are
Specific sports
Association football
In
.For a league or group stage the common tiebreakers are usually overall goal difference, or a head to head comparison of points between the involved teams. Goals scores is a common additional tiebreak, while later tiebreaks can be drawing of lots (such as happened between Ireland and Netherlands in the 1990 FIFA World Cup, or a "Fair Play Table" where teams are ranked according to how many yellow and red cards each team accumulated.
Extra time tiebreaker
After regular time or 90 minutes, the usual method is extra time, where each team will play two 15-minute periods of extra time. The team that leads at the end of 30 minutes wins the tie. If, at the end of extra time, after 120 minutes, no winner can be decided, the match goes to a penalty shoot-out.
Penalty shoot-out tiebreaker
Occasionally, in matches like the Community Shield in England, the match can go straight to a penalty shootout after 90 mins of play has been completed.
Match replay
Alternatively, in tournaments such as the English FA Cup, the match is replayed in its entirety, going through the aforementioned stages of extra time and penalties if the second match is drawn. This method is no longer used from the quarter-finals onwards. In league matches, when two or more teams are tied on points, a series of tiebreakers are adopted, where goal difference and head-to-head points are the most common ones. While some competitions (including FIFA competitions) use goal difference as the first tiebreaker, some others (including UEFA and AFC competitions) use head-to-head points.
Away goals rule
American football
In the National Football League of professional American football, if both teams are tied at the end of regulation, an overtime period is played under modified "sudden death" rules. Before the 2017 season, this period was 15 minutes in all games. Since 2017, a 15-minute period has been used only in playoff games (in which a winner must be decided); overtime in regular-season games consists of a 10-minute period, no overtime in preseason up to 1973 & since 2021. If the team that receives the ball first scores a field goal, then the opponent must receive a chance at equalising that score of their own; the first team to score a touchdown or safety wins the game; and once both teams have had possession of the ball in overtime, the first team to score under any legal means, touchdown (offensive or defensive), field goal or safety, wins. If neither team scores before the end of the overtime period, or both teams score one field goal each, the game is considered a draw and ends, and counts as a "half-win" in the standings for purposes of winning percentage for both draft order and playoff positioning. However, in the playoffs, true sudden death rules apply from double overtime onwards.
Australian rules football
There is no tiebreak for regular season matches in Australian rules football, and both teams earn two points each.
In the AFL, new rules were introduced for finals in 2016 and modified in 2020: if there is a tie at the expiry of regulation time, including in the Grand Final, two three minute halves of extra time are played with the teams swapping end after each half. If the match is still tied when extra time has expired, the procedure is repeated (but in true golden point) until a winner is determined.
Previous systems
Prior to 1991, if the scores were tied in a finals match after the final siren, the drawn final would be replayed on the following weekend, thus delaying all other finals by one week.
Due to various logistical issues that arose following the drawn 1990 Qualifying Final, the AFL replaced this procedure with extra time (with the exception of the Grand Final) in 1991. Until 2015, if the scores in a finals match were tied when regulation time expired, two five-minute halves of
If the scores were tied after the final siren in the Grand Final, the match would be replayed on the following weekend.
Baseball
If a
Major League Baseball used the term "tiebreaker" to refer to one or more additional games played after the scheduled end of the regular season between teams with identical win–loss records in order to determine participants in postseason play. This tiebreaker game format was abolished in the 2022 season, to compensate for an expanded postseason.
Chess
In chess, when two players play a match against each other and the score is even after the scheduled number of games, often there is a tiebreak with games with faster time controls. In tournaments, when two or more players have the same final score, there can be a play-off but usually an auxiliary scoring system is used.
Cricket
Most cricket matches do not feature tiebreakers. The most common tiebreaking method in
In a tournament, the most common way to separate two teams tied on points gained from matches won and lost is
Field target
In cases where multiple places are to be determined (as in five people tied for first place), one approach is to have each shooter make several shots (n − 1 or more with n being the number of tied shooters). If all shooters miss all shots, the target is moved in (made easier); similarly, if all shooters hit on all shots, the target is moved out (made more difficult). If some variation in hits exists after a round, the top score gets the highest placing while those with identical scores can have a sudden-death shootout or a repeat of the multiple shot shootout (typically with a more difficult target) to determine other placings.
Ice hockey
Tennis
Snooker
If the scores are level when all the balls are potted in a frame of snooker, the black is "respotted" (placed back on the table, on its designated spot) and the cue ball put "in hand". The referee will then toss a coin, and the winner of the coin toss decides who will take the first shot. Play then continues until the black is potted or another frame-ending situation occurs.
Sumo
At the conclusion of a professional sumo tournament (本場所, honbasho), the winner of a division is the wrestler (力士, rikishi) with best record at the end of the 15-day tournament. If two or more wrestlers share are tied for the lead within a division, a series of additional playoff bouts will be held on the final day to determine the divisional champion. Restrictions against bouts between close relatives, members of the same stable, and previously faced opponents are lifted during a playoff situation.
Outside sport
The term "tiebreaker" is sometimes used loosely outside the world of sports — for example, for an innovative weapon or strategy introduced in a war where the two opposing armies are evenly matched, a decisive political move introduced in an electoral race where the contending parties are evenly matched (such as a casting vote), and similar situations in other fields.
See also
- Overtime (sport)
- Tie (draw)
- One-game playoff