Does a sudden death liven up the game? Rules, incentives, and strategy in football

In an effort to stimulate more attractive football, the international football association FIFA, has recently introduced the "sudden death" or "golden goal" rule for games going into extra time play. This paper analyses under which conditions, if any, the introduction of the sudden death rule improves the attractiveness of the football game. Our results indicate that the new rule will not change the behavior of equally powerful teams. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin/Heidelberg 2004