Question Number: 339

RE: ALL Other

RON NORRIS of valley center., CA USA asks...

A player is injured during a foul, the referee asks his coach onto the field of play, allows a sub for the injured player, and while the coach and injured player are still on the field, the referee awards a direct free kick to the fouled player's team, from which the ball goes into the net...... Goal or retake?

Answer provided by Referee stewart

If play has been stopped, as it obviously was, then play can only resume when a substitution has been completed. A substitution is completed when the player being substituted has left the field and the substitute has entered the field, therefore becoming a player. Until this is completed then play cannot start. A team awarded a DFK cannot quickly take it as there is a substitution in progress - they must wait until the referee has completed his duties.The other obvious problem is that the coach is still on the field. Play should never be started until all non-players (except the referee !)have left the field of play. I suspect that the incident you described was a quick free kick taken by the attacking team from which they scored. Under these circumstances I would stop play immediately, disallowing any goal that was scored, and order a retake when the substitution was complete and the coach had left the field.

Answer provided by Referee Stacy Kalstrom

If play has been stopped and there is a coach on the field, players must wait for the referee's signal before putting th ball back into play. Absent that, the ball must be brought back and the kick must be re-taken.

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 15479