Penalty kick (association football) in the context of "1990 FIFA World Cup final"

The Intercontinental Cup, officially the European/South American Cup and known from 1980 as the Toyota Cup for sponsorship reasons, was an international club football competition endorsed by UEFA (Europe) and CONMEBOL (South America), contested between representative clubs from these confederations, usually the winners of the UEFA Champions League and the South American Copa Libertadores. It ran from 1960 to 2004, when it was succeeded by the FIFA Club World Cup, although they both ran concurrently in 2000.

From its formation in 1960 to 1979, the competition was as a two-legged tie, with a play-off if necessary until 1968, and penalty kicks later. During the 1970s, European participation in the Intercontinental Cup became a running question due to controversial events in the 1969 match, and some European Cup-winning teams withdrew. From 1980, the competition was rebranded and contested as a single match played in Japan, regarded neutral territory for both contestants, and sponsored by multinational automaker Toyota, which offered a secondary trophy, the Toyota Cup. At that point, the Japan Football Association was involved at a logistical level as host, though it continued to be endorsed by UEFA and CONMEBOL.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup final was the final match of the 2018 World Cup, the 21st edition of FIFA's competition for national football teams. The match was played at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia, on 15 July 2018, and was contested by France and Croatia. The tournament comprised hosts Russia and 31 other teams who emerged from the qualification phase, organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 32 teams competed in a group stage, from which 16 teams qualified for the knockout stage. En route to the final, France finished first in Group C, with two wins and a draw, after which they defeated Argentina in the round of 16, Uruguay in the quarter-final and Belgium in the semi-final. Croatia finished first in Group D with three wins, before defeating Denmark in the round of 16 and Russia in the quarter-final – both through a penalty shoot-out – and then England in the semi-final. The final took place in front of 78,011 supporters, with more than 1.1 billion watching on television, and was refereed by Néstor Pitana from Argentina.

France took the lead through a controversial free kick that led to an own goal by Mario Mandžukić in the 18th minute – the first own goal in a World Cup final – before Ivan Perišić equalised 10 minutes later with a low shot into the corner of the goal. Shortly afterwards, France were awarded a penalty when Pitana ruled that Perišić had deliberately handled the ball. The decision resulted from a consultation with the video assistant referee, which was in use for the first time in a World Cup at the 2018 tournament. The decision was criticised by some pundits such as Alan Shearer, who labelled it "ridiculous", while others such as Chris Waddle thought it was correct. Antoine Griezmann scored to give France a 2–1 half-time lead. They extended that lead in the 59th minute, when Paul Pogba scored at the second attempt after Croatia defender Dejan Lovren had blocked his initial shot. Kylian Mbappé scored from outside the penalty area to make it 4–1, becoming the second teenager to score in a World Cup final (after Pelé in 1958). In the 69th minute, Mandžukić capitalized on a Hugo Lloris error to score a second for Croatia. The final score was 4–2 to France.

In association football, a penalty shoot-out (previously known as kicks from the penalty mark and colloquially known as penalties) is a tie-breaking method to determine which team is awarded victory in a match that cannot end in a draw, when the score is tied after the normal time as well as extra time (if used) has expired. For example, in a FIFA World Cup, penalties are used in elimination matches; the round of 32, the round of 16, the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, and the final. In a penalty shoot-out, each team takes turns shooting at goal from the penalty mark, with the goal defended only by the opposing team's goalkeeper. Each team has five shots which must be taken by different players; the team that makes more successful kicks is declared the victor. Shoot-outs finish as soon as one team has an insurmountable lead. If scores are level after five pairs of shots, the shootout progresses into additional "sudden-death" rounds. Balls successfully kicked into the goal during a shoot-out do not count as goals for the individual kickers or the team, and are tallied separately from the goals scored during normal play (including extra time, if any). Although the procedure for each individual kick in the shoot-out resembles that of a penalty kick, there are some differences. Most notably, neither the kicker nor any player other than the goalkeeper may play the ball again once it has been kicked.

The penalty shoot-out is one of the three methods of breaking a draw that are approved by the Laws of the Game; the others are extra time and, for two-legged ties, the away goals rule. A shoot-out is usually used only after one or more of the other methods fail to produce a winner. The method of breaking a draw for a specific match is determined beforehand by the match organising body. In most professional level competitions, two 15-minute extra time periods are played if the score is tied at the end of regulation time, and a shoot-out is held if the score is still tied after the extra time periods.