Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:
As of the time of writing, at the 2026 FIFA World Cup : 26 players have taken penalties using "stutter" run-ups, and 15 have scored them, a conversion rate of 57%. 35 players have taken penalties using more conventional run-ups, and 24 have scored them, a conversion rate of 68%. It's a small sample size, but suggests that stuttering run-ups do in fact reduce the chance of scoring. As for why players do these stuttering run-ups in the first place, it's basically a game of chicken: the taker is trying to force the goalkeeper to blink and dive early, whereupon they can slot the ball into the opposite corner of the net. What's been observed at this World Cup is that goalkeepers are no longer...
Full answer by F1Krazy: https://sports.stackexchange.com/a/30328 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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