Off the Mark: Spot Kick Struggles on the Rise
Mohamed Salah strides from the halfway line to the 18-yard box, where the referee hands him the ball. Salah places the ball on the white mini-circle, 12 yards away from the goal. He glances at the ball and takes a few steps back, waiting for Chris Kavanagh’s whistle. A quiet hush around half of Wembley Stadium gives way to murmurs and jeers from the other end. Salah’s feet move rapidly as his shot sails over the crossbar. His miss was a catalyst for how the rest of the penalty kick shoot-out between Crystal Palace and Liverpool in the Community Shield went.
Yesterday’s penalty kick shoot-out was not an anomaly. A growing trend of misses in major tournaments, cup finals, and league fixtures themselves makes scoring a bicycle kick easier than a spot kick. Across club and international levels, the high-pressure penalty kick is no longer a guaranteed goal. From players blasting the ball to poor placement, the decline of goals from 12 yards out has been sharp.
Around a month ago, the UEFA Women’s Euros saw a conversion rate of 58.5%, a stark drop-off from 80% during the 2022 competition, according to Just Women’s Sports. The England vs. Sweden Semifinal penalty kick shoot-out had a horrific conversion rate of 36%. It’s not just the women’s game that saw stars fluff their lines. The Bundesliga reported players made roughly 65% of their penalties throughout the 2024-25 campaign, the lowest percentage since the 1980s. These poor penalty kick performances represent a seismic shift in how people play the modern game.
Today, it’s all about mind games and flashy skills. Decades ago, athletes used to have a no-nonsense approach: set the ball down and run as fast as you can towards the goal. Now, there are a plethora of ways someone can score a penalty: the paneka, the hop, skip, and jump, the stutter-step, the horse step, as made popular by Chloe Kelly, the placement shot, or the put your foot through it. The players’ techniques are too cute or fancy, attempting to outsmart the goalkeepers. In doing so, the focus adjusts to how an individual looks, trying to score rather than doing their job for their team.
Another underlying impact of the modern game in a penalty kick shoot-out is pressure. Every move and every decision is under a microscope. Goalkeepers are beginning to write down where to dive on water bottles, like Jordan Pickford and Dean Henderson, while others, like Hannah Hampton, write the information on their arms to avoid having a water bottle thrown into the stands. Players must decide to either stick to their spot or choose a new one, which heightens the pressure. These minor tweaks to the game demonstrate the psychological fitness players participate in before they even place the ball down.
All of these factors contribute to the growing decline of success in penalty kick shoot-outs, but will the trend continue? The short answer is no. As the game continues to evolve, players and staff members will use analytics or psychology to reverse the trend. The way to stop the misses lies at the heart of what soccer used to be about: simplicity.
