Its unfortunately simply a successful tactic in the game with little downside.

Getting a penalty, especially one in a prime location or that would result in a penalty kick, is extremely valuable. Huge deal. The 'cost' of being caught faking, is that most fakes aren't caught, and if you get caught its generally not a big deal.

Its unfortunate, but its such a good tactic in the sport that you see it from youth up to the top pinnacle of players.

A short to say, the rules of the game make the benefit of making vastly more than the "loss" in getting caught faking.

Yes, everyone thinks the rule should change.

You didn't ask, but the NBA also has a flopping problem, which they also ignore.

It can also be used as a time wasting tactic. The assistant referees at this years World Cup seem to have cracked down on this by adding on much more additional time after the normal 90 minutes. There was 9 additional minutes in the 2nd half of the US-Iran match. That’s an enormous amount of time. It’s typically between 3-5 minutes of additional time.

You nailed the reason for why they do it: hoping to get a penalty call.

Presumably the drama is to sell it, maybe they think it makes the call more likely.

I've had the same question about why they don't end it. It makes the sport into a joke in the eyes of many potential fans. It would be very easy to eliminate. When I reffed kids traveling teams, an obvious fake like that was instantly a red card, therefore it almost never happened.

The idea behind flopping is to (a) create a foul out of nothing, (b) turn a borderline foul into a called foul, or (c) make sure an actual foul is called. The first should be fined or otherwise penalized, it's cheating. The third is fine with me, sometimes you need to call attention to a foul.

The middle one is difficult to regulate. On the one hand, I wish players would play through more borderline calls. On the other hand, I can see why they try to turn them into fouls, and there's enough there that it's hard to fine or penalize them for it.

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Why do they do it: a penalty, even a free kick outside the penalty area, can be incredibly advantageous. Getting an opposing player a yellow, or red, card is also helpful.

Why is it allowed: the sport has been hesitant to allow too many pauses to check computers, we have definitely seen that happen this world cup so far. But, if a referee catches a player intentionally faking they have and will reprimand them by giving them a yellow, or red, card. Two yellows and they automatically get a red card and their team will be down a player for the rest of the game. That and they usually cant play, at least, the next game.

As we get more technology involved, it may be more difficult to get away with cheating, but then, new methods to cheat may then evolve as well.

It works. There are lots of plays that are fouls in football but that don't actually cause you to fall over or be in pain, but still cause you a disadvantage. If you don't fall over or feign injury, the referee feels less pressure to give a foul, and referees have a bias towards staying out of the game - "we didn't talk about the referee tonight, that means he had a good game" - is a saying.

Until referees grow enough of a spine to call fouls for things that look like nothing, this will always happen, because it will always help you win.

It can also break up the momentum of the game if the other team is doing well. Some managers essentially use it as a time out to talk to their players.

There is a competitive sdvantage to be gained by feigning injury or exaggerating a tackle. It's the same logic as claiming a corner or throw in when you know you shouldn't be awarded one. This exact same potential competitive advantage doesn't exist in other sports, but where one does people will attempt to manipulate it for their/their team's benefit. Like a player claiming they made a catch in the NFL when they know they weren't in bounds or when the ball grazed the turf first. Or when a QB makes sure the refs notice any late contact in the hopes of a roughing the passer call.

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It's not supposed to be a contact sport, and with the pitch being relatively large, the one good way to indicate an injury (or just pain) is to be on the ground.

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To dispell the American perception of Soccer:

They're not flopping all the time. It's a contact sport and sometimes they get the wind knocked out of them or really fucked up. In this past MLS final the keeper of LAFC got a broken leg (and a red card for illegal contact) trying to stop Philly's striker by sliding into him. Look at pictures from the Brazil/Serbia game of Neymar's ankle. It's swollen to the size of a grapefruit. In the past week of just a handful of World Cup games I've watched, I've seen dudes get kicked in the face, head, and dick. People ramming into each other at full speed. And getting cleated anywhere fucking sucks. There's a player for Wolverhampton that's still wearing a brace for a fractured skull and that motherfucker is still playing. Some games are physical slogs, it can actually get real nasty.

Now. As to why they'll flop and/or feign injury:

1. fishing for fouls. And sometimes you kind of need to do it because you were fouled but referees are pants on head stupid.

2. Time wasting. I like to say a team is 20 seconds away from scoring at any point in the match. You're up by 1 goal and it's the final 5 minutes? Got some rough contact? Better go to ground to burn the clock (and take a little break). It's not even the main method of time waisting. If you're up a goal, and you get a set piece (corner, goal kick, free kick, throw in, etc.) You taaake youuur tiiiime.

I'll say this: if you actually watch a game, they really don't flop as much as my fellow Americans like to think they do. They spend most of the time, you know... Playing the game. And it's exciting to watch because there's always something happening instead of people standing around or commercials every 30 seconds like with NFL and baseball.

There are rules for egregious flops. Simulation (faking illegal contact) gets ya carded. And the practice of flopping ain't going away. It's part of the tactics of the game, really. Not that they practice it in training or anything. And like I said, it's not like every bit of contact results in a player dropping to the ground and playing hurt. They go at each other hard most of the time. The only protection they have are shin guards. The rest of the body is exposed to abuse. You get tripped up while you're sprinting, it's going to hurt. Dude steps on you literally anywhere, it's going to hurt. NFL players have the luxury of play stopping for a minute between plays to walk it off when their bell gets rung. Soccer players don't. Hell, the game even keeps going if there's a man down. They won't stop play unless he doesn't get up for a while. Or if it was contact to the head.