Penalty kicks could be used to award bonus points in drawn group stage matches at the next World Cup, according to reports.
United States, Canada and Mexico will host the next instalment of the international tournament, with the number of teams set to qualify already increased from 32 to 48.
But according to The Athletic, FIFA are mulling a major overhaul of the competition rules, as competition expands. The format is expected to include 16 groups of three teams, with the top two from each group qualifying for the newly created Round of 32 - effectively an extra knockout stage compared to the current format.
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The push for three-team groups has seemingly not won universal backing however, but if FIFA should continue with groups of four, the governing body is reportedly considering the introduction of a penalty shoot-out at the end of a drawn group stage match to award an additional bonus point.
The report also suggests that the proposed shoot-outs could take place before a group stage match kicks off or even at half-time, in order to avoid result manipulation at the end. This would mean that two competing teams would be prevented from throwing the shoot-out result in order to eliminate a third team.
FIFA's chief officer for technical development and former Dutch striker Marco van Basten showed support for the idea back in 2017. He said: "Shootouts could indeed be an option for tournaments with groups of three in which you play against two opponents. It can get pretty tight. If one team for instance draws one match 0-0 and wins the other 1-0, there’s a high risk that all three teams are level on points and goals in the end."
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