Question Number: 31422

Law 2 - The Ball 4/4/2017

RE: Competitive College

Jorge Avila of Fayetteville, AR United States asks...

If in the rare case a soccer ball exploding in mid-air or in Contact with the players foot for any reason and the ball goes in the net does it count as a goal? Now the ball does release gas which causes the ball to not be predictable for the goalie.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Jorge,
The law says that ''if the ball becomes defective, play is stopped and restarted by dropping the replacement ball where the original ball became defective''

So in the scenario you describe, if the ball becomes defective (explodes) before crossing the goal line, play stops at that point and a goal is not scored.

If the ball becomes defective inside the goal area, ''the ball is dropped on the goal area line which is parallel to the goal line at the point nearest to where the ball was when play was stopped.''

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Jorge
When a ball becomes defective play is stopped and the game resumes with a dropped ball. Most times that is not an issue yet there could be the unusual circumstance that say a shot from close range bursts the ball. The referee would have to be pretty certain that the deflation happened before the ball crossed the goal line before disallowing the goal. The expectation is that the deflation would happen at the moment of the kick or on contact with a hard surface. If it affects play such as you describe then it is certainly a dropped ball.
Have a look at this video
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6Sk89zlMNUE
The ball was certainly unpredictable so the restart is a dropped ball in the corner of the penalty area.
Now if the ball becomes defective during a penalty kick or kicks from the penalty mark as it moves forward and before it touches a player, crossbar or goalposts the penalty kick is retaken.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

The goals do not count! If the ball becomes defective during play, the match is stopped and the restart is a drop ball. The drop ball is taken at the point the ball become deflated. If it is in the air, then the point is the nearest point on the field. There is one exception in that a drop ball cannot happen in the goal area. You would then take the drop ball on the top of the goal area.