{"id":4597,"date":"2026-07-03T21:42:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T21:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4597"},"modified":"2026-07-03T21:42:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T21:42:37","slug":"how-to-win-a-penalty-shootout-with-game-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4597","title":{"rendered":"How to win a penalty shootout (with game theory)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest soccer scorer of all time. But when it comes to penalty kicks, Messi is merely average. Why? Maybe the answer involves game theory.<\/p>\n

Read more Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce fans gather for glimpse of top secret wedding<\/a><\/p>\n

According to game theory, there’s an optimal strategy for taking penalty kicks. This strategy involves an idea that was once somewhat controversial in economics \u2014 that is, until economists started studying soccer players in real life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On today’s show, we kick it over to the hosts of the Soccernomics podcast to explain how game theory has changed soccer, and how soccer has changed game theory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Iran plans dayslong funeral for Supreme Leader Khamenei after war death<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch the penalty shootout between Manchester United and Chelsea in the Champions League final in 2008.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Rickshaws in India celebrating America\u2019s birthday<\/a><\/p>\n

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Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest soccer scorer of all time. But when it comes to penalty kicks, Messi is merely average. Why? Maybe the answer involves game theory.<\/p>\n

According to game theory, there\u2019s an optimal strategy for taking penalty kicks. This strategy involves an idea that was once somewhat controversial in economics \u2014 that is, until economists started studying soccer players in real life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On today’s show, we kick it over to the hosts of the Soccernomics podcast<\/a> to explain how game theory has changed soccer, and how soccer has changed game theory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Watch the penalty shootout between Manchester United and Chelsea in the Champions League final in 2008<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Support:<\/em>
Planet Money+<\/a><\/p>\n

Read:\u00a0<\/em>
Our book: Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life<\/a>\u00a0
Our weekly longform Planet Money newsletter<\/a>
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Follow:\u00a0<\/em>
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This episode of Planet Money was produced by Emma Peaslee with help from James Sneed. It was edited by Jess Jiang. It was fact checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Annlie Huang. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Soccernomics episode was originally hosted by Ashish Malhotra, Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski and sound designed by Alex Roldan.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-planet-money"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to win a penalty shootout (with game theory) - Best USA Movers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4597\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to win a penalty shootout (with game theory) - Best USA Movers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest soccer scorer of all time. But when it comes to penalty kicks, Messi is merely average. Why? Maybe the answer involves game theory.According to game theory, there\u2019s an optimal strategy for taking penalty kicks. This strategy involves an idea that was once somewhat controversial in economics \u2014 that is, until economists started studying soccer players in real life.\u00a0On today's show, we kick it over to the hosts of the Soccernomics podcast to explain how game theory has changed soccer, and how soccer has changed game theory.\u00a0Watch the penalty shootout between Manchester United and Chelsea in the Champions League final in 2008.\u00a0Support:Planet Money+Read:\u00a0Our book: Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life\u00a0Our weekly longform Planet Money newsletterOur weekly Indicator round-up newsletterFollow:\u00a0InstagramTikTokYouTubeFacebook This episode of Planet Money was produced by Emma Peaslee with help from James Sneed. It was edited by Jess Jiang. 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