Copa América scrapped extra-time. Should other knockout tournaments?

Knockout rounds in the South American championship advance straight to penalties after full-time to help ease the burden on players

Fans enjoying the feast of football served up this month by Copa America and Euro 2024, running concurrently on either side of the Atlantic, will have noticed one key difference between the two tournaments: there is no extra time at the end of tied games in the knockout stage of the South American championship.

Conmebol, South American soccer's governing body, decided that there would be no extra time played if scores were level at full-time in the quarter- and semi-finals. Instead, as was the case in three of the four quarter-final fixtures, the teams skipped straight to a penalty shootout. Only if all is square between Argentina and Colombia at the end of 90 minutes in the final will there be the conventional extra period of 30 minutes.