Football Challenge

Football Challenge is a free online penalty shootout game you can play instantly in your browser, with no download and no sign-up. Every match is a real shootout: five kicks each, taken alternately, and you play both ends — step up to the spot, then dive to keep the reply out. Lock the sweeping marker to pick your side of the goal, then time the height meter to place the ball, from a rolling shot along the ground to a top-corner finish. The keeper watches what you keep doing and starts guessing it, so vary your placement. Level after five kicks means sudden death. Win the tie and you go through — five rounds from the group stage to the final.

How to play Football Challenge

1. Press Kick Off to start the tie. You take the first penalty, then go in goal for theirs, alternating for five kicks each.
2. A red marker sweeps across the goal: tap, click, or press Space to lock the side you want.
3. A blue meter then sweeps up the goal: lock it to set the height, from a low roller along the ground to a shot under the crossbar.
4. Lock too far past the posts and the ball goes wide; lock right at the top of the meter and it flies over the bar.
5. Keeping goal works exactly the same way — lock a side and a height to choose where your keeper dives, before you can see where the kick is going.
6. Most goals after five kicks each wins the tie; if the scores are level it goes to sudden death, one kick each until someone misses.
7. Win and you go through to the next round. Five rounds run from the group stage to the final, and each opponent has a sharper keeper and better takers than the last.

Tips

• Aim for the corners, not the middle of the goal. The keeper reaches a fixed distance from wherever they dive, so a ball tucked inside the post is the hardest one to cover — a top corner beats the keeper far more often than a comfortable shot at mid-height.
• Change your placement every kick. The keeper reads your last three penalties on both axes: put two of three in the same third of the goal and they will go there, and hit two of three high and they start jumping rather than staying low.
• Do not shade too close to the post. The frame is checked before the keeper is, so a kick a fraction outside it is wide no matter how badly they guessed — leave yourself a little margin rather than aiming at the woodwork.
• Keep the ball off the ground. A weak roller along the goal line gives the keeper extra reach to smother it, so lock the height meter a little above the very bottom.
• When you are in goal, commit early and to a side. A dive is worth nothing if it lands where the ball is not, and the opponent aims closer to the corners in every later round — standing in the middle saves almost nothing by the final.
• Saves are worth more points than goals, and winning the tie is worth more than either, so a shootout you edge on penalties scores better than one you lose while scoring freely.

FAQ