What are the advantages and disadvantages of abolishing the field goal rule?

UEFA has decided to officially abolish the rule on scoring goals on opponents’ pitches. While some applaud this, others are very unhappy. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this rule?

The away goals rule has been in place since 1965. However, football has evolved so much since then that it is virtually impossible to compare football in those years and today. That is why new rules are being introduced to make it more attractive. But is the abolition of this rule the right step?

A quick explanation. A goal scored on the opponent’s pitch effectively counted as two, so if you won 3:1 away and lost 2:0 at home, you were promoted despite the score being tied (3:3) due to more goals scored on the opponent’s pitch.

The main reason why the rule is being abolished is to increase the attractiveness of the match. We often heard before matches that teams mainly don’t want to concede at home. And so we often watched boring first games, as teams starting at home wanted to play a zero-nil game.

Slavia didn’t escape this either, starting with goalless draws at home against Genk, Midtjylland, Leicester, with Chelsea getting a goal with a few minutes left.

So the away goals rule is replaced by extra time and penalties. This in turn is criticized by the other part of the fans, as double matches end in a total draw quite often. In an already difficult season, this is adding to the burden on the players.

The big disadvantage for the home team was if it went to extra time. Again, let’s take the Czech team as an example. Slavia drew with Sevilla 2: 2, so the total score was 4: 4. But in extra time they got a goal to 2: 3 and had to score two goals.

So it was very unrewarding for each team to play the rematch at home because of this disadvantage in extra time. We often watched a boring spectacle in overtime where neither team wanted to make a mistake.

On the other hand, it often gave the teams a chance to correct their mistakes from the first game. For example, if they lost the first game away 4:1, they could win 3:0 at home and move on. This is exactly what happened in the 2018 Champions League quarter-final between AS Roma and Barcelona.

So football loses a certain magic where one minute you are out and the next minute you are up thanks to a goal scored. Now there will be no more golden goal, you either get knocked out, get the game to extra time or get promoted.

Whereas before the away team had the advantage in extra time, now the home team will be slightly better off in the rematch. Playing 30 minutes in front of your own fans is undeniably more advantageous.

Advantages of scoring on the opponent’s field:

The emotional joy of scoring a golden goal
Less extra time
There was still something to play for

Advantages of cancelling a goal on the opponents’ pitches::

More regular overtime
More attractive first games
More attractive overtime
No one gets eliminated after a tie in the overall standings

What do you think? Do you think it is a good thing that UEFA has decided to abolish this rule?

Source: UEFA