Attacker Defender Goalkeeper (ADG) is an alternative to the penalty shootout. ADG features a series of 10 contests where an attacker kicks off from 32 yards and has 20 seconds to score a goal against a defender and a goalkeeper. ADG combines the skill, speed, athleticism and dynamic beauty of modern football, with the climactic drama and tension of penalties.
Watch the video, download the executive summary, or the complete ADG document.
What's Wrong with the Penalty Shootout?
ADG addresses these three issues and in fact has seven core advantages over the shootout.
How does ADG work?
The referee tosses a coin and the team that wins the toss, decides whether to attack or defend in the first contest. The teams receive an additional substitution. The referee meets separately with the teams and records their five attackers.
The attacker receives the ball at the ADG mark, which is 32 yards from the goal line. Having seen the attacker, the opposition field their defender. The defender and goalkeeper must be at least 10 yards from the ball until it is in play. See the diagram.
Half the field is in play. The attacker kicks off and has 20 seconds to try and score a goal. The contest will end if any of the following occur:
If the defender or goalkeeper commits a foul, the attacker is awarded a penalty kick and the 20 second time period is disregarded for the remainder of that contest.
Teams take turns attacking and defending. Teams play a total of ten ADG contests. At the completion of the contests, the team with the most goals is the winner. If scores remain level, the same players from the first contest will compete in the first sudden death contest.
"Penalties are awful, unfair, but what else is there?"