UEFA Lifts Football's Most Controversial And Outdated Rule
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On Thursday 24 June, a historic event for all football fans happened: the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) abolished the away goal rule. Why it was time to do it a long time ago and what guided UEFA now - read the material.
The away goal rule was necessary before, today it is archaism
A miracle happened - UEFA listened to hundreds of thousands of fans around the world and decided to abolish the away goal rule, which most considered outdated and simply unfair. It was first used in 1965 in the second round of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup between Dukla Prague and Honved Budapest. The Hungarian team became the winner then because of this rule.
Previously, in the event of a tie on aggregate, one more match was scheduled on a neutral field. This led to a number of inconveniences in terms of logistics, calendar and physical condition of the players. In addition, statistics indicate that, compared to the present time, playing at home used to really give certain advantages.
The official press release on the UEFA website says that in the mid-70s (when statistics began to be collected), the rate of victories in home matches was 61%, in away matches - 19%. Now the gap is not that great - 47 and 30%. It is difficult to say for sure what caused this decline. UEFA cites improvement in the quality of pitches and their standardization, an increase in the level of safety at stadiums, improved quality control of refereeing (including the introduction of VAR) and others among the probable factors.
It is also assumed that the matter is in the development of transport communications, means of transportation and infrastructure of cities. In other words, it used to be much more difficult for fans to come to another city for a match to support their team than it is now.
This rule seemed especially silly when both teams were not just from the same city, but played in the same stadium, as in the example with Milan and Inter in the semi-finals of the Champions League 2002/2003 season. The first match ended 0: 0 (the hosts were nominally the Rossoneri), and the second - 1: 1. Thanks to an away goal, Milan reached the final and won that Champions League.
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