Playoff Rules

For those 4th to 12th grade recreational youth leagues holding playoffs in the Fall the following laws apply:
 

Laws of the Game

All the same laws that applied during the regular season continue to apply during playoff games with the addition of the following 2 laws:

1. Only players who have actually played in at least 2 regular season games can participate in the playoffs, and
2. Teams are not required to loan players to other teams.

In particular we remind all teams, coaches and parents that:

• Only registered recreational players who appear on the official team roster as distributed by WWPSA (and reflected on the WWPSA website) and who have played in at least 2 regular season games can participate in the playoffs. This is to prevent teams inviting players to join the team just for the playoffs.

• Playing time rule continues to apply and coaches may not tell or encourage players to not attend the playoff games and all players present, except in the case of injury, red card, early departure or late arrival, must:

  • Play at least half (50%) of the game

  • Have as near equal playing time as possible compared to other players

Teams who play a non-eligible player or clearly do not allow players to play at least 50% of the game will forfeit the game and the other team will be considered to have won the game with a score of 1-0 regardless of the actual final score.

Determination of Game Winner

The team with the most goals at the end of the game / regulation time is the winner, except if the team forfeits the game as described above.

In the event of a tie at the end of the game / regulation time the winner of the game will be determined as follows:
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1. Extra time - Teams will play extra time consisting of two equal halves of 10 minutes each (total of 20 minutes). 

2. Penalty Kicks - If at the end of extra time the game is still tied then penalty kicks are used as follows:

• Each team gets to take 5 penalty kicks.

• Each of the 5 penalty kicks must be taken by a different players i.e. each player on a team only gets to kick once.

• Any player including substitutes, except those that got a red card during the game, on the team including the goalkeeper can take a kick

• All players and coaches must be in the center circle during the kicks except for the two goalkeepers and the player who is taking the kick.

• Teams can designate any player as the goalkeeper for the taking of the kicks but can only change the designated goalkeeper during the kicks if the keeper is injured.  If the keeper is changed during the kicks he cannot return as a keeper at a later stage, he can however participate in taking kicks.

• Players cannot score off a rebound i.e. if the player kicks and the ball hits the post or the keeper and bounces back to the player who then kicks the ball into the goal it is not a goal. If the ball hits the keeper or post and then bounces into the goal without the kicker touching the ball a second time it is a goal. 

  If at the end of the 5 penalty kicks above if the score is still tied, alternating kicks are taken as follows:

• Each team takes alternating penalty kicks until one team scores a goal and the other team does not score a goal to determine the winner.

• Each team must have taken an equal number of kicks.

• The kicks must be taken by a player who has not already taken a previous penalty kick (including the 5 kicks taken above or the alternating kicks). Once all players have taken a kick then and only then can a player take a second kick. i.e. this means every player on the team that is present kicks before a player gets a second kick.

• Otherwise all the same rules as for the 5 penalty kicks described above apply.