Dueling in the penalty box: evidence-based recommendations on how shooters and goalkeepers can win penalty shootouts in soccer

In soccer, penalty kicks can decide the outcome of a match and in recent years, much effort has been invested in trying to identify the factors that influence successful performance. This overview presents some of the most important findings in order to compile a reliable set of facts that can improve the probability of success for either penalty takers or goalkeepers. Particular attention is paid to various strategic aspects in the shooter-goalkeeper interaction as previous research suggests that the chances of success on both sides may be greatly enhanced by applying findings from research in sport psychology. The article ends with a checklist that goalkeepers and penalty takers may use to improve their chances of success alongside recommendations to continue and intensify the efforts to carry out ecologically valid experiments in future research.