Silver goal is a method used in association football to decide the result of games in elimination matches which end in a draw after the end of the ordinary time. A fifteen-minute extra time period is played, and if there is no winner, another fifteen-minute period is played. If there is still no winner, a penalty shoot-out decides the game.
The silver goal rules were introduced in 2002 by UEFA to replace the unsuccessful golden goal rules introduced by FIFA in 1994. In extra time a team leading after the first fifteen minute period or after the second fifteen minute period, or having the away goal advantage after either of these periods, would win, but the game would no longer stop the instant a team scored as in golden goal. This change was decided after golden goal victories led to some ugly behaviour from the losing teams. Golden goal also put excessive pressure on the referee and when it was introduced, it was also supposed to stimulate the offensive flair of the teams, which rarely happened, since the dangers of suffering a goal on counter attack outnumbered the possibilites of scoring a goal.
The silver goal was first employed in the 2003 UEFA Cup final between Porto and Celtic. Derlei took advantage of a long pass to Marco Ferreira that Celtic's keeper Douglas couldn't handle, and placed a kick that just stopped in the net, just 3 minutes from the end of the overtime.
However, the Silver Goal also didn't please the International Board. In February 2004 it was decided that after Euro 2004 in Portugal the overtimes will return to the usual two 15 minute halves without any goal scoring considerations as they were before the 1994 World Cup. In the Euro 2004 cup, the semifinal match between Greece and the Czech Republic was decided by the silver goal, when Traianos Dellas scored for Greece after a corner kick in the last two seconds of extra time. This was also the last silver goal ever, as the final game of the cup between Greece and Portugal did not reach extra time.
