September 1 – The idea of scrapping extra time after draws in knockout European matches was discussed at UEFA’s annual seminar for elite coaches and ex-coaches this week.
Former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson (pictured), UEFA’s coaching ambassador who chaired the meeting, said players were too often exhausted and simply played for penalties.
“I don’t think we like to see players exhausted in extra-time and when the whistle goes at the end of 90 minutes, I’ve always the feeling it’s going to go to penalty kicks,” Sir Alex told reporters.
“You saw in the last Champions League final, players walking about… it’s inevitable that it goes to penalty kicks so the question is how we can improve it?”
UEFA’s chief technical officer Ioan Lupescu added: “One thing that is very clear is that these days the players play so many matches and we raised the question whether from their point of view it is still worthwhile having extra-time.”
Europe’s coaches were also given a tactical summary of Euro 2016. Interestingly only 31% of games at the tournament were won by teams who had more possession of the ball.
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