When a World Cup knockout match stays level after 90 minutes, the game moves into a 30-minute extra-time period. It’s split into two 15-minute halves, includes a mandatory extra substitution window, and then—if there’s still no winner—hands the pressure to a p
When Lionel Messi found the net in the 108th minute. it looked like the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar might swing straight into celebration. Then Kylian Mbappé converted a penalty 10 minutes later for a hat-trick. And still—there was time for Randal Kolo Muani to be denied a winner by Emiliano Martínez.
All of it came in extra time, after the 90-minute match finished 2-2. It was the kind of football that turns a stalemate into a chase, and it’s exactly what now returns to the spotlight for the 2026 World Cup knockouts.
From here, knockout games will no longer be allowed to finish level. They get an extra 30 minutes to find a winner. If extra time doesn’t settle it—as happened in Qatar—then the match moves to penalties.
So what is extra time, how does it work, and what does it usually produce?
World Cup extra time rules penalty shootout rules stoppage time vs extra time 2026 World Cup knockout stage FIFA golden goal silver goal