How cup and knockout ties work
In a league, every team plays everyone and the table decides the champion. In a cup, teams are knocked out, and someone has to win every match. This guide explains how a winner is decided in the usual cup formats.
Single-match ties
Many cups, including most rounds of the World Cup and the Africa Cup of Nations, are played as one match. The winner goes through. If the score is level after 90 minutes, the match goes to extra time, which is two periods of 15 minutes. If it is still level after extra time, a penalty shoot-out decides it.
Two-legged ties
Some competitions, such as the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League and the CAF Champions League, are played over two matches, one at each team's ground, called legs. The team that scores more goals in total over both legs wins the tie. This total is called the aggregate score. For example, a team that wins the first leg 2-0 and loses the second leg 1-0 goes through 2-1 on aggregate.
If the aggregate score is level, there used to be a rule that away goals counted double. UEFA removed that rule in 2021, so a level tie in its competitions now goes to extra time and then penalties. Other competitions have their own rules, so always check the competition's regulations, as some still use different tiebreakers.
Group stage then knockout
Big tournaments often start with groups. Each team plays everyone else in its group, earning three points for a win and one for a draw. The top teams advance. When teams finish level on points, the competition's rules decide the order. Common tiebreakers are goal difference, goals scored, and the result of the match between the teams concerned, but the order of these varies between competitions, which is why two groups with similar results can end up ordered differently.
Seeding and draws
In a cup draw, teams are often split into groups called pots, based on their ranking, so that the strongest teams do not meet too early. This is called seeding. Some draws are open, with no seeding at all, which is why small clubs sometimes meet big clubs very early in cups such as the FA Cup in England.
Reading a tie on ScoreHub
On a match page, the score shown is the score of that match. For a penalty shoot-out, look for PEN and the shoot-out score in brackets. For a two-legged tie, check the first leg result and add the scores yourself, or open the competition's page for the full list of fixtures and results.