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Player Welfare Advantages

Safeguarding Health & Recovery

Protecting Bodies and Minds

Player welfare is one of the defining issues in modern football. As schedules become more congested and awareness of cumulative fatigue and psychological harm grows, the way drawn matches are decided deserves closer scrutiny. ADG was designed with this reality in mind. It replaces extra time and penalties with a format that is safer, shorter, more ground-based, and less psychologically damaging.

Extra time pushes players into the most dangerous phase of the match, when fatigue is deepest, recovery capacity is lowest, and injury risk is rising. Penalty shootouts then place enormous psychological weight on isolated individuals, often turning a miss into a lifelong burden. ADG offers a better alternative. It removes the most dangerous half hour of football, protects recovery for the next match, and replaces a static ritual of blame with dynamic contests that better reflect the sport itself.

Reduces Injury Risk

Extra time represents a period of heightened injury risk in football. Performance sharply deteriorates, with sprinting, high-speed running and accelerations declining by 12% to 23% during the final 30 minutes compared to the first 90 minutes.31 At the same time, muscle glycogen in the vastus lateralis drops by nearly 60% overall, leaving about 75% of both fast- and slow-twitch fibres critically depleted by the 120-minute mark.31 These conditions create an environment in which soft-tissue injuries are far more likely.32

UEFA’s Elite Club Injury Study shows that the last 15 minutes of play already carry more than double the baseline risk,33 and prolonging the match multiplies this exposure. Injury data confirm that incidents cluster late in matches, when fatigue is at its peak, so extending play effectively doubles the danger window.34 

These injuries are not caused by heat stress but by the accumulated effects of fatigue. Thermoregulation studies show that players can manage body temperature effectively, but when muscle fibres are depleted, soft tissue becomes highly vulnerable.35 Modern football’s congested schedules only amplify this problem, with players warning that the workload is already unsustainable.

ADG also reduces head-contact exposure. Unlike extra time, it does not extend the match into further crossing phases, contested headers, aerial duels or crowded penalty-area challenges. The format is structurally ground-based, resolving matches through sprinting, defending, goalkeeping and finishing rather than repeated heading or aerial contact. This is increasingly relevant as football authorities place greater emphasis on concussion, repetitive heading and long-term brain health.

ADG addresses these risks by ending open play at 90 minutes and resolving the match through controlled, high-intensity contests. A dangerous half-hour is replaced by a short, spectacular climax, protecting players from the injuries that so often occur when they are pushed past safe limits.

Simulations of ADG confirm that the format carries only a negligible risk of injury. Conservative modelling projects roughly one injury per thousand tiebreakers, a rate far lower than both extra time and open play. This safety profile is not accidental but a direct result of ADG’s design: contests are short, recovery is built in, and reckless fouls are heavily discouraged. Together, these features make ADG one of the safest possible ways to separate teams after 90 minutes.

Learn more about ADG’s player safety profile.

Reduces Fatigue & Aids Recovery

The impact of extra time extends long after the final whistle. Players forced to endure 120 minutes suffer reduced recovery capacity, disrupted energy systems, and lingering fatigue that affects subsequent matches.36 Managers and medical staff regularly report that recovery protocols must be altered after extra-time games, undermining preparation and compromising performance for the rest of a tournament.37

The modern season already pushes players to breaking point, with congested schedules leaving little time for recovery. Senior players and coaches have warned that the number of matches is unsustainable, with some even threatening strike action. Adding an extra 30 minutes at the most dangerous stage of a match only compounds this overload.

By eliminating extra time, ADG ensures players complete open play in significantly superior condition. The ADG Recovery Interval is a defined 10-minute recovery window before the deciding phase begins, giving players time to hydrate, receive treatment, recover physically and prepare tactically. Studies show that the 10-minute window before ADG gives players valuable time to rejuvenate and is enough to restore about 90% of their sprint capacity.38,39 With each ADG contest averaging only around 8 seconds, the format delivers decisive outcomes without the extended physical strain of extra time. The result is fresher players, healthier squads, and higher-quality football in subsequent matches.

Reduces Yellow Cards

Extra time places players in a uniquely dangerous disciplinary environment. As fatigue intensifies beyond 90 minutes, reaction time, coordination, and decision-making deteriorate, increasing the likelihood of mistimed tackles, tactical fouls, and late challenges. Even when players attempt to moderate risk, they are still required to defend and sprint at elite intensity while operating under neuromuscular fatigue. This creates a structural risk for cautionable offences precisely when physical control is most compromised.

By eliminating extra time entirely, ADG removes this disciplinary “red zone.” Instead of forcing players to compete through metabolic and cognitive decline, ADG resolves matches through short, controlled contests following a recovery interval. The format sharply reduces the physical and emotional stressors that drive reckless fouls late in matches, resulting in a cleaner and more disciplined conclusion to tied games.

ADG also discourages cynical or tactical fouling through its design. Any foul by a defender or goalkeeper immediately results in a penalty kick, removing the incentive to commit late or desperate challenges. As a result, simulations show that fouls occur in fewer than 6% of ADG contests, far lower than typical foul rates in open play or extra time. This produces fewer cautions, fewer suspensions, and fewer scenarios where key players miss decisive matches due to fatigue-induced misconduct.

The benefits extend beyond player safety. Fewer yellow cards mean fewer star players sidelined for semi-finals and finals, preserving the quality of competition and protecting the spectacle for fans and broadcasters. ADG therefore delivers decisive outcomes without sacrificing discipline, fairness, or the edge-of-your-seat tension that defines football’s greatest moments.

Reduces Psychological Trauma, Racism and Death Threats

Penalty shootouts are the most psychologically damaging element in football. They isolate responsibility onto individuals and create brutal must-score moments in which one player can become the symbol of defeat. In the modern media environment, that burden does not end on the pitch. Missed penalties can trigger waves of abuse, including racism and even death threats. The rapid growth of online sports gambling is likely to make this problem even more severe, as more people become financially invested in individual moments and direct their anger at the player cast as responsible.

For many players, that guilt does not fade with the final whistle but lingers for years, as Roberto Baggio’s experience after the 1994 World Cup final so painfully shows. Baggio who missed Italy’s decisive penalty in the 1994 World Cup final, admitted: “It affected me for years. It is the worst moment of my career. I still dream about it. If I could erase a moment, it would be that one.” 22

The problem is structural. Psychological studies confirm that conversion rates in shootouts collapse under “must-score” pressure. ADG fundamentally changes this dynamic. With a scoring rate of only 30% (two and half times lower than penalties), the expectation is that most players will not score. Team-mates and fans may hope for a goal, but they do not assume one. In ADG, goals create heroes, but missed chances don’t create villains. Instead, they are recognised as part of the battle, not as personal failures.

By reframing the tiebreaker around moments of skill, pressure is shared more naturally across the team. ADG does not remove drama. It simply shifts the emotional centre of the contest away from scapegoating and toward competition, shared responsibility, and acts of courage and brilliance. That is better for players, better for the game, and better for the entire culture that surrounds the sport.

A Safer Future for Football

Taken together, these reforms make ADG the first tiebreaker designed to actively protect players’ health. It reduces the physical risk of injury, safeguards recovery for future matches, and shields players from the psychological damage that penalties so often cause. ADG is more than a fairer way to decide games, it is a decisive step forward for player welfare in the modern era.

Football should not have to choose between player wellbeing and dramatic endings. ADG shows that it is possible to have both. By protecting players at the moments of greatest physical and psychological risk, it offers a safer, fairer, and more modern way to decide drawn matches.

  1. Field, Adam, The Extra-Time Period of Soccer: Implications for Performance, Fatigue, Recovery, and Injury. Science of Multi-Speed, 2025[↩][↩]
  2. Harper, Liam D., et al., The Evolution of Match Performance Parameters Associated with Muscle Glycogen Depletion and Injury Risk in Professional Soccer. Journal of Sport and Health Science, vol. 8, no. 2, 2019, pp. 115–121.[↩]
  3. Ekstrand, Jan, et al., Epidemiology of Muscle Injuries in Professional Football (Soccer). British Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 50, no. 9, 2016, pp. 559–562. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2015-095371.[↩]
  4. Ekstrand, Jan, and Håkan Bengtsson, UEFA Elite Club Injury Study: Twenty-First Annual Report, Season 2022/23. UEFA Medical Committee, 2023[↩]
  5. Edwards, A.M., and N.A. Clark, Thermoregulatory observations in soccer match play: professional and recreational level applications using an intestinal pill system to measure core temperature. British Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 40, pp. 133–138., 2006[↩]
  6. Harper, Liam D., et al., Practitioners’ Perceptions of the Soccer Extra-Time Period: Implications for Future Research. PLOS ONE, vol. 11, no. 7, 2016, e0157687. Public Library of Science[↩]
  7. Field, Adam, et al., The Demands of the Extra-Time Period of Soccer: A Systematic Review. Journal of Sport and Health Science, vol. 11, no. 3, 2022, pp. 403–414. Elsevier[↩]
  8. Dupont, G., Akakpo, K., & Berthoin, S., The effect of in-season, high-intensity interval training in soccer players. J Strength Cond Res, 18(3), 584–589., 2004[↩]
  9. Nédélec, M., McCall, A., Carling, C., Legall, F., Berthoin, S., & Dupont, G., Recovery in soccer: part I – post-match fatigue and time course of recovery. Sports Medicine, 42(12), 997–1015., 2012[↩]