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Soccer Referee Questions on Soccer Rules
Welcome to AskTheRef.com, a Soccer Law/Rules Question & Answer site!
Operating since October 11, 1999, that is 25 years as an independent, FREE, public service site. Dedicated to personally answering your questions regarding any Professional or Grassroots, FIFA, College, High school, or Youth soccer game situation. To ask a question simply click on Ask the Ref in the menu bar, post your question!

Please understand, we are comprised of strictly volunteers, thus lack the time required to review or alter the hundreds of thousands of previous questions & answers. The LOTG /RULES are constantly being tweaked, reevaluated and rewritten each year, often rendering previous answers as incorrect, partially true and/or portions no longer applicable! Our answers can only coincide within the changing LOTG/RULES time/frame of the date a question was asked! We feel it is essential you review & read the latest version of the always changing Laws/Rules of the Game.

The IFAB 2023 - 2024 LOTG Laws of the Game can be viewed here:

https://www.theifab.com/

The USA Highschool rules can be viewed here:
https://nfhs.org/nfhs-for-you/officials/

The NCAA rules can be viewed here:
Soccer Rules of the Game - NCAA.org

Those who have ideas or articles please feel free to contact the editor Richard Dawson at mrref@asktheref.com with suggestions. There are no costs involved to ask or have us respond to a question but we are not upset if you wished to donate or sponsor on the site as in todays world it is difficult to operate independently.

You Call It!

After two years and many request - You Call It is back! Now it's your turn to test your knowledge in a scenario created by our panel of referees. If your answer is spot on we will publish it on our site! Good luck click here!

Law 5 - The Referee 10/13/2024

RE: College

Mario viteri of Katy, Tx Fort bend asks...

Can a ref play the advantage on a hand ball?...

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Law 7 - The Duration of the Match 10/12/2024

RE: EDP Under 11

ryan n atkin of Eden, MD United States asks...

Was playing in a tournament with 25 minute halves. Play continued after the 25 minute mark with no whistle. After 1 minute, I mentioned to the head ref that we were running over, he let play continue and within seconds we had scored a goal. He then blew the half time whistle. Afterwards, they disallowed the goal stating that halftime happened already.

Was this the correct call? Can a ref just take away a goal because he forgot to blow the whistle for half-time?...

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Law 5 - The Referee 10/10/2024

RE: Rec. Under 12

Larry of Danville, CA United States asks...

I was watching a youth recreational game,
and would be interested in your take of the following: White is throwing the ball in from their attacking half. The trailing AR on that side and the other half of the field, raises their flag for an improper throw-in. The CR does not see the raised flag and allows play to continue. Red immediately controls the throw-in and mounts an attack. The AR drops their flag during the attack. Red scores, within several seconds of the throw-in. The AR calls the CR over and after a discussion the goal is allowed. The White team’s coach was upset and felt that since the ball was not put into play properly the goal should be disallowed, with a restart back at the original position for Red. What do you think...

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High School 10/8/2024

RE: High School

Angel of Glassboro , New jersey US asks...

Can a ref take back a goal if he forgot to blow the whistle to end the game. ...

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Law 7 - The Duration of the Match 10/8/2024

RE: Competitive or Pro Adult

Elly of Melbourne , Victoria Australia asks...

A player goes down injured in the 44th (or 89th) minute. He requires treatment on the pitch, which takes a full minute or two, or perhaps longer. This means that the 45th/90th minute arrives BEFORE play has resumed.

My question is, given that this will result in additional "stoppage time", when should the 4th official announce how many additional minutes will be played?
Should he announce the decision as "usual" (i.e. as soon as the 45th or 90th minute arrives), even though the time to be added on is not yet clear?
OR, should he wait until play is ready to resume (when he now knows exactly how much extra time is to be played) before announcing his decision, even if this is a few minutes AFTER the end of regulation tim...

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Law 5 - The Referee 10/6/2024

RE: U23 Adult

Neil Fryatt of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk UK asks...

Can a referee issue a red card after the game and off the pitch whilst walking back to the changing rooms and not speaking to or notifying the person what the red card is for? The referee was approximately 10yrds from the person concerned and no communication had or was happening between them at the time of the card being shown....

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Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 10/6/2024

RE: Rec Adult

Steve of Stockport, Greater Manchester England asks...

At 45:47 Maddison takes 4 seconds to position the ball for a free kick, at 45:54 the referee blows the whistle to take the free kick. 45:56 re-positions the ball, why is this not handball ?...

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Law 18 - Common Sense 10/4/2024

Petr of Prague, Czech Republic Czech Republic asks...

Hello,

one more special question please. :-)

The goalkeeper has the ball:

A. between the leg and ground
B. between the body and ground
C. between the leg and the body
D. between the legs above the ground

Can the opponent kick the ball?

Thank you very much!...

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Law 14 - The Penalty kick 10/4/2024

Petr of Prague, Czech Republic Czech Republic asks...

Hello,

I'm annoying again. Two penalty kick questions please.

Question 1:

Part of Law 14:
- 'The defending goalkeeper must remain on the goal line, facing the kicker, between the goalposts, until the ball is kicked.'

- When the ball is kicked, the defending goalkeeper must have at least part of
one foot touching, in line with, or behind, the goal line.

It doesn't make sense to me. He must remain on the goal line. But he can also have both feet behind the goal line. So when can he move behind the line? After the whistle?

Note: Yesterday in the match Pilsen vs. Ludogorets goalkeeper Jedlicka stood behind the line almost the entire time. The referee didn't deal with ...

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Law 5 - The Referee 10/2/2024

RE: High School

Matt of Gettysburg, PA USA asks...

In a recent game, the keeper for our team went down injured, do to a collision with a member of the opposite team. No foul was whistled. The refs allowed play to continue for probably 15-20 seconds, until the other team scored (with our keeper still down). Clearly, you can't say anything - without video - about whether or not a foul should have been called for the collision with the keeper. But shouldn't the refs have stopped play, or waved off the goal, because our keeper was down? The goal was allowed to stand, our keeper received treatment for a few minutes, but was able to keep playing. I know that for field players, if they go down injured, the ref typically waits until there's a natural stoppage of play (such as a ball going out o...

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