Two-game Total-goal Series

In sports (particularly association football), a two-legged tie is a contest between two teams which comprises two matches or "legs", with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum of the scores of the two legs. For example, if the scores of the two legs are:

• First leg: Team A 4–1 Team B
• Second leg: Team B 2–1 Team A

Then the aggregate score will be Team A 5–3 Team B, meaning team A wins the tie. In some competitions, a tie is considered to be drawn if each team wins one leg, regardless of the aggregate score. Two-legged ties can be used in knockout cup competitions and playoffs.

In North America, the equivalent term is home-and-home series or, if decided by aggregate, two-game total-goals series.

In ice hockey, the National Hockey League used two-game, total-goals series in the early years of its playoffs. It applied to all its playoffs from 1918 to 1926, and the early rounds until 1937, when it completed the switch to best-of-n series. The NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship also used a two-game total goals format for much of its history.

Tiebreaking

If the aggregate score is tied after the two legs, various methods can be used to break ties. Under the away goals rule, the team who scored more away goals advances. If away goals are equal, or are not considered, then the tie may be decided by extra time and/or penalty shootout. Replays, at the second-leg venue or a neutral venue, were formerly used in European club competitions. In the Liguilla (playoffs) of the Primera División de México, the team with the better regular-season record advances; some leagues take the two teams' record against one another into account. In the promotion playoffs in Italy's Serie B (which do not necessarily occur in a given season), two-legged ties that are level on aggregate at the end of regulation time of the second leg go to extra time (away goals are not used); if the tie remains level after extra time, the team that finished higher on the league table advances.