Question Number: 26520

Law 8 - Start and Restart of Play 7/1/2012

RE: Adult

Steve of lagos, lagos nigeria asks...

hi ref, will a goal be awarded if a player scores directly from a fair play (a ball he s supposed to play into touch, thereby returning possession to the team that originally had possession of the ball) whether the ball touched an opposing player on its way in or not.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

As of July 1, a new provision in the Laws of the Game takes effect. Players can no longer score directly on a dropped ball.

It remains to be seen how that will be interpreted. If the player 2-touches it - a short kick, followed by a blast into the net - does that count as 'directly'? It doesn't for any other restart, but for any other restart the player is prohibited from playing the ball a second time without an intervening touch by another player (from either side).

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Steve
As Referee Voshol states the Laws have been amended in respect of a dropped ball restart. From the 1st July a goal cannot be scored directly from a dropped ball restart. If an attacker kicks the ball directly into the opponents goal the restart is a goal kick whereas if a defender does it the restart is a corner kick.
My interpretation of directly means that if the dropped ball is unchallenged and the ball is kicked back even after a touch with the intention of giving the ball back to the opponents, a goal cannot be awarded. The situation in the game will be plainly obvious and the referee can then use the amended part of Law 8 to deal with it, as he no doubt will have to deal with it tp prevent the uproar from the conceding team.
In the past the referee had no powers to disallow the goal and then as FIFA said to quote ' we had the unseemly situation where the opposition allows the team to score from the kick-off without any players trying to stop them in order to re balance the game' which in most instance happened after perhaps cautions / dismissal in the deliberate 0nes.