The history of the Panenka penalty

Football writer Ben Bloom looks at the history of the Panenka penalty and some of the memorable moments it has provided fans over the years.

In Chelsea's action-packed 4-3 comeback win at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, it was Cole Palmer who stole the headlines.

TOT

3-4

CHE

Highlights Available

close

TV Info - Broadcasters

Chelsea’s star man had already scored from the penalty spot to help his side come back from an early two-goal deficit when he won a second spot-kick opportunity.

After running up in similar fashion to his earlier successfully placed effort, he instead opted for the Panenka, dinking it gently down the middle as Spurs goalkeeper Fraser Forster dived to his right and watched helplessly.

Palmer Panenka v Spurs

It was the 12th Premier League penalty scored by Palmer, setting a record for the most spot-kicks taken in the competition without ever missing.

But why did he choose to bring up his dozen in such fashion and where did the Panenka come from?

What is the Panenka?

It was in the penalty shootout of the 1976 UEFA European Championship final that the Panenka was first unleashed on the wider footballing world.

For some years, Czech player Antonin Panenka had stayed behind after training at his Prague-based club Bohemians, staking beer or chocolate in penalty duels with the club’s goalkeeper Zdenek Hruska.

“I was constantly paying him,” Panenka told the BBC in 2021.

“So, in the evenings, I would think up ways to beat him. That’s when I realised that as I ran up the goalkeeper would wait for the last second and then gamble, diving to the left or the right.

"I thought: ‘What if I send the ball almost directly into the centre of the goal?’”

He found success and soon began testing the new technique in friendly matches and league matches in his native Czechoslovakia.

But it was on the grandest stage, in the biggest moment, that he revealed it to the world.

The 1976 Euros final between Czechoslovakia and West Germany had gone to penalties after ending 2-2.

With his team 4-3 up in the shootout, Panenka chipped the decisive spot-kick into the middle of the net as goalkeeper Sepp Maier dived to his left.

His penalty had won his country their first major title and sealed his name in footballing history.

Why do players do it?

Panenka’s moment of audacity was praised in some quarters for its ingenuity, but reviled in others who suggested he had sought to unsportingly ridicule the goalkeeper.

Nonetheless, it was quickly replicated worldwide.

Explaining his thought process for attempting it on Sunday, Palmer said: “When I put the ball down and stepped back, I knew what I was going to do.

“I thought it was late in the game and it was a bit crazy, so I just went for it.”

Enzo Maresca's reaction to Palmer's penalty

Ignacio Palacios-Huerta, a professor at the London School of Economics, specialises in discovering recurring patterns among penalty-takers and has consulted for various football teams.

“It is not a terrible idea,” he told the Guardian, of the decision to take a Panenka penalty.

“In my dataset, the scoring rate of a true Panenka is statistically similar to that of any other type of penalty kicks; although it is slightly lower.”

He estimated that the conversion rate of Panenkas “could be 4-5 percentage points lower than the average penalty kick”, although he pointed out that the data size to work from is small.

Precise Panenka records do not exist for the Premier League, but statistics from 2006/07 to the present day show that putting the ball down the middle of a goal is as strong an option as any other, so long as it is hit aerially.

The vast majority of Premier League penalties are struck low and, irrespective of whether they are aimed to the left, right or centre, have a far lower conversion rate than those put high.

There is also a psychological aspect to attempting a Panenka.

In the book Twelve Yards: The Art and Psychology of the Perfect Penalty, former Chelsea and Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech explained he preferred to dive at penalties due to a fear that remaining stationary might suggest he was not trying to save it.

After scoring a Panenka against Joe Hart with Italy’s third spot-kick of the 2012 UEFA European Championship quarter-final against England, Andrea Pirlo said: “For me, Hart seemed to be very confident in himself.

“I needed to do something to beat him.

“Penalties are a very personal thing but when I saw him move I decided to do that. It seemed to be a psychological blow for us.”

England’s next two penalty takers missed and Italy went on to make the final.

What are some memorable Panenkas?

As a useful weapon in a penalty-taker’s armoury, many greats have been known to opt for the Panenka at some stage of their career, from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Neymar and Lionel Messi to Cristiano Ronaldo, Francesco Totti and Ronaldinho.

Perhaps one of the best known Panenkas came when Zinedine Zidane successfully dinked his penalty seven minutes into France’s 2006 FIFA World Cup final defeat against Italy.

Looking to mount a Premier League title challenge in 2017/18, Alexis Sanchez converted a dramatic Panenka penalty in the eighth minute of stoppage time to snatch victory for 10-man Arsenal over Burnley.

That came two years after he had scored the decisive final penalty of the 2015 Copa America final in the same fashion to hand Chile the crown over Argentina.

Fellow Arsenal player Thierry Henry chipped the winner from the penalty spot to give the Gunners a 3-2 Premier League victory over Newcastle United in September 2003.

Former Chelsea man Eden Hazard successfully produced a number of Panenkas during his career, including during his side’s 2018/19 EFL Cup final defeat to Manchester City.

What happens when they go wrong?

With high reward comes high risk, and failed Panenkas are often as well known as those that are scored.

Gary Lineker famously wasted his chance to equal Bobby Charlton’s England goalscoring record when he failed to get enough elevation on his Panenka in a 1992 friendly against Brazil, allowing the goalkeeper a simple save. He never scored again for his country.

More recent examples include Ademola Lookman, whose effort was so bad that he was consoled by opposition players after failing to salvage a Premier League point for Fulham deep into stoppage time against West Ham United in November 2020.

Lookman's Panenka attempt v West Ham

“I’m disappointed and angry,” said Fulham manager Scott Parker.

“You can’t take penalties like that and he knows that. He’s a young player and he’s learning.”

Like Lookman, Man City forward Sergio Aguero came out and apologised for a failed Panenka, which was easily saved by goalkeeper Edouard Mendy in their May 2021 Premier League defeat against Chelsea.

Alongside some successful Panenkas during his career, Raheem Sterling also missed one in Man City’s 2018/19 EFL Cup quarter-final penalty shootout against Leicester City, when he lifted the ball over the crossbar.

Thankfully for him, City went on to prevail in the match and the entire competition, beating Chelsea and Hazard’s Panenka in the final.