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Panenka (penalty)

A Panenka is a penalty struck as a gentle chip down the middle, timed so the goalkeeper has already committed to a dive and cannot recover. It is named after Antonin Panenka, who won the EURO 1976 final shoot-out with one. It is legal under Law 14 - the offence people confuse it with is feinting after the run-up has been completed.

Why this wins its question: The term is everywhere and the rule question underneath it is almost never answered: a Panenka gets conflated with the stop-and-feint that Law 14 actually punishes. This separates them at claim level from the Law itself - feinting in the run-up is allowed, feinting after completing it is a caution and an indirect free kick to the defence - and grounds the origin in Panenka's own words to UEFA rather than in the usual retelling.

Claims

Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.

  1. A Panenka is a penalty taken as a gentle chip down the middle of the goal, timed so that the goalkeeper has already dived and cannot recover. It takes its name from Antonin Panenka, then of Bohemians Praha, who scored one past Sepp Maier to win the EURO 1976 final shoot-out against West Germany.

    confidence 0.96Panenka makes his name as Czechoslovakia beat West Germany in EURO 1976 final shoot-out (UEFA) · primaryEURO 1976 - All you need to know (UEFA) · primary

  2. Panenka's own account of how it came about: he stayed behind after training with his club goalkeeper to take penalties, playing for "a bar of chocolate or a glass of beer", and reasoned that a keeper who dived to a corner could not jump back up again, so a delayed, lightly chipped kick would beat him. He tested it in friendlies and minor leagues, then used it in the top division, and said he began to gain weight because he was winning the bets.

    confidence 0.94Panenka makes his name as Czechoslovakia beat West Germany in EURO 1976 final shoot-out (UEFA) · primary

  3. UEFA describes the 1976 kick as the first of its kind in international football, and Panenka joked that if it were patentable he would have patented it.

    confidence 0.94EURO 1976 - All you need to know (UEFA) · primaryPanenka makes his name as Czechoslovakia beat West Germany in EURO 1976 final shoot-out (UEFA) · primary

  4. A Panenka is legal under Law 14. The Law permits feinting during the run-up, but feinting to kick the ball once the kicker has completed the run-up is an offence: the referee cautions the kicker and play restarts with an indirect free kick to the defending team. A Panenka involves no such feint - the kicker completes the run-up and strikes the ball, simply softly and centrally.

    confidence 0.95Law 14 — The Penalty Kick (Laws of the Game 2026/27) · primary

  5. Law 14 also requires the kicker to play the ball forward, with backheeling permitted provided the ball moves forward, and the ball is in play once it is kicked and clearly moves - so the chip's lack of pace does not affect its validity.

    confidence 0.94Law 14 — The Penalty Kick (Laws of the Game 2026/27) · primary