THE LONGEST SHOOTOUTS !
Picture : Ajax Goalkeeper Remko Pasveer brake two records with his club last week !
Day of longest shootouts
On the same day, 15 August, two matches took place with the longest penalty shootouts in the history of major European club competitions.
In the Conference League (3rd qualifying round), Wisła Kraków and Spartak Trnava performed 28 attempts in total, 14 from each side, to see the Polish side win with a 12-11 score.
Thus they equalled the former record of European club competitions set by Glentoran (Norther Ireland) and Gżira United (Malta) a year ago in same tournament (also 28 shots).
Meanwhile, Ajax have beaten Panathinaikos 13-12 in their marathon shootout in Europa League 3rd qualifying round tie ended 1-1 over two legs and extra time.
These two teams needed as many as 34 attempts to define the winner (9 of them were missed) what became the new historical record.
Moreover, it’s also the new record for UEFA competitions overall, including national teams and youth area. The previous such record of 32 attempts was established at the European U-21 Championship semi-final in 2007 where Netherlands beat England 13-12.
In addition to the above, the Ajax vs Panathinaikos shootout provided 2 unique personal achievements.
Ajax keeper Remko Pasveer became the first ever goalie in the European club competitions to make 5 saves (and also successfully converted his own attempt to help his team win). In the legendary shootout of European Cup final 1986 Steaua vs Barcelona, the heroic Romanian guardian Helmuth Duckadam saved 4 out of 4.
Another “achievement” regards the Dutch international Brian Brobbey who missed 2 penalties for Ajax to become the first ever player to do so within a single shootout series.
What Ajax and Panathinaikos failed to update by their combined efforts, is the record for converted penalties during a shootout. They produced “only” 25 goals while above mentioned Glentoran and Gżira United converted 27 (!) in a row to see 28th and last attempt being missed (Gżira goalkeeper David Cassar saved it from Leon Boyd).
Just for curiosity, taking in account not only top level games, the worldwide longest shootout happened in May of this year when Israeli third-tier clubs Dimona and Shimshon Tel Aviv took 56 penalties to resolve their semi-final promotion playoff tie.
Here we present the all-time ranking for longest shootouts in European club competitions.
| LONGEST | SHOOTOUTS | |||||||
| EUROPEAN CLUB | COMPETITIONS | |||||||
| Home Team | Away Team | SC | PC | PT | Date | Competition | Round | |
| 1 | Ajax | Panathinaikos | 13-12 | 25 | 34 | 15/08/2024 | Europa League | 3QR |
| 2 | Glentoran | Gżira United | 13-14 | 27 | 28 | 20/07/2023 | Conference League | 1QR |
| 3 | Wisła Kraków | Spartak Trnava | 12-11 | 23 | 28 | 15/08/2024 | Conference League | 3QR |
| 4 | Shamrock Rovers | Ilves | 12-11 | 23 | 26 | 27/08/2020 | Europa League | 1QR |
| 5 | Olimpija Ljubljana | Skonto | 10-11 | 21 | 24 | 01/09/1993 | Champions League | 1QR |
| 6 | Drogheda United | Start | 10-11 | 21 | 24 | 24/08/2006 | UEFA Cup | 2QR |
| 7 | Rio Ave | Milan | 8-9 | 17 | 24 | 01/10/2020 | Europa League | 4QR |
| 8 | Lech Poznań | Inter Baku | 9-8 | 17 | 22 | 21/07/2010 | Champions League | 2QR |
| 9 | Villarreal | Manchester United | 11-10 | 21 | 22 | 26/05/2021 | Europa League | F |
| 10 | Bayern Munich | PAOK | 9-8 | 17 | 20 | 02/11/1983 | UEFA Cup | R32 |
| 11 | Slovan Liberec | Dinamo București | 8-9 | 17 | 20 | 27/08/2009 | Europa League | 4QR |
SC = shootout score, PC = penaties converted, PT = penalties taken, QR = qualifying round (4th means playoff round).