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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reevaluated and rewritten each year, often rendering previous answers as incorrect, partially true and/or portions no longer applicable!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.
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 You Call It!
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Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 1/29/2025RE: Adult Damianos of Athens, Attiki Greece asks...First of all I would like to thank you for your answers.
What refs McHugh and Dawson described was more or less the same as what I initial thought.
What ref Grove pointed out though is probably what is confusing me. In both cases I assume that the Goalkeeper is in control of the ball. Even in the second one, he is in mid air but the ball is between his two hands.
So perhaps the questions are,
Is the goalkeeper in control of the ball from the first instant the ball is between his arms? (on the 2nd incident is the GK in control mid air?)
What constitutes a challenge when the GK is in control of the ball? Is the bump on the 1st incident a challenge, or possibly in the 2nd incident the fac...
Read The Full Q & A Law 3 - The Players 1/27/2025RE: Competitve Adult Brian Murphy of Stafford, VA USA asks...A team is given a RED Card, but the team does not play a man down, and then scores a PK. Can the Ref take away the goal once he/she realizes the team that got the Red card and just scored did not go down a man?...
Read The Full Q & A Mechanics 1/27/2025Petr of Prague, Czech Republic Czech Republic asks...Hello
One mechanics question please.
Can the assistant referee intervene of his own free will if a player has the ball in the wrong place at the restart? (The rules state that he has this duty for corner kicks). Or more generally. What can he do on his own without needing the referee?
Thank you very much!...
Read The Full Q & A Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 1/27/2025RE: Adult Damianos of Athens, Attiki Greece asks...I have a more general question regarding how untouchable is a Goalkeeper.
The last couple of matches in the greek league, there were incidents that to me are confusing. Weirdly the same goalkeeper is involved.
The fisrt case, the GK catches the ball on the ground, the attacker bumps him , mostly trying to annoy him and not challenge him. Then the goalkeeper pushes him a bit, and then they get into an argument, where the GK gives a "soft" headbut to the attacker inside the box. The ref gave penalty and a red card. Should n't have been an offensive foul on the first place?
https://youtu.be/8GzrClxzQCM?t=137
The second case the keeper catches the ball mid air, is touched by the attacking player , wh...
Read The Full Q & A Law 11 - Offside 1/22/2025Zluvka of Liberec, Liberec Region Czech Republic asks...Hi, I managed to find the video. The commission did not dispute the verdict.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNgTHEXCzGI
Thank you, Zluvka...
Read The Full Q & A Law 11 - Offside 1/20/2025Zluvka of Liberec, Liberec Region Czech Republic asks...Hi, this was the situation in our league.
A player made a through pass. A teammate ran after the pass. The defender fouled him. The ball was 5 meters away from the player at that moment. Otherwise, the player would have gone to the goal himself. The referee awarded RC DOGSO. VAR saw offside. Realistically, I think the player is only in an offside position 5 meters from the ball. Especially when it comes to a pass rush situation. It was changed to IDFK for offside and RC was cancelled.
Maybe he used this advice.
** A player in an offside position may be penalised before playing or touching
the ball, if, in the opinion of the referee, no other team-mate in an onside
position has the opportunity to play ...
Read The Full Q & A Law 11 - Offside 1/19/2025Zluvka of Liberec, Liberec Region Czech Republic asks...Hi, it's simple. The referee whistles a foul. He awards RC for DOGSO. VAR sees that the fouled player was in an offside position (not offside). How will VAR deal with it? Will VAR intervene? VAR probably should. What will the restart be like? Probably hard IDFK for offside. Thank you, Zluvka...
Read The Full Q & A Law 11 - Offside 1/17/2025Zluvka of Liberec, Liberec Region Czech Republic asks...Hi, how would this hypothetical situation be handled if the player was only in an offside position and not in an offside position? I mean the solution via VAR. Thank you, Zluvka...
Read The Full Q & A Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 1/16/2025Stewart of Livermore, California United States asks...Say a ball last touched by an attacker roles slowly towards the goalkeeper, with nobody nearby. The goalkeeper bends down and easily stops the ball with their hands inside the penalty area and away from the goal. After a few seconds the keeper then bends down and picks it up. Does it make a difference if the goalkeeper dribbled the ball with their feet after stopping it with their hands, and then picked it up? What if they dribbled the ball outside the penalty area and then dribbled it back in?...
Read The Full Q & A Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 1/16/2025RE: College Tristan Zhang of Beijing, Beijing China asks...Dear sirs:
I am a little bit confused by a part of Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct which says
'An indirect free kick is awarded if a goalkeeper, inside their penalty area,
commits any of the following offences:
touches the ball with the hand/arm, unless the goalkeeper has clearly kicked or attempted to kick the ball to release it into play, after:
• it has been deliberately kicked to the goalkeeper by a team-mate
• receiving it directly from a throw-in taken by a team-mate '.
I found out that this sentence was changed in 2019/2020, adding 'unless the goalkeeper has clearly kicked or attempted to kick the ball to release it into play'.
So for the following scenarios, is it a foul or not?...
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