Question Number: 28377

Law 5 - The Referee 4/28/2014

RE: Select High School

Ilya Kostyukovsky of New York, NY USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 28260

I understand that the advantage rule per the Advice to Referees for Law 5 has been tweaked since now the advantage decision 'can include offenses which are not against any specific
opponent " e.g., handling, offside, or second-touch violations.'

However, there is also a caveat that 'not all violations of the Law qualify for the application of advantage.' So, my question is to what may advantage be applied vs. not applied?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Ilya
Advantage cannot be played on an incorrect restart such as a throw in, corner kick, goal kick.
Generally though when this happens it is unlikely to result in advantage to the opponents anyway so it does not arise.
Here is the US Soccer video on this
http://vimeo.com/48215216

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Advantage can be applied to any infringement of the laws that occurs when the ball is in play. But, the examples given in the new ATR all involve examples where the choice for the referee would not involve stopping play. E.g., field conditions, foul throw-in; touching the ball on a goal kick before it enters the field of play.