Question Number: 34067

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 12/1/2020

RE: College

John of Patras, Greece asks...

I am wondering if the following case is a penalty: The defender touches the ball deliberately (with his hand raised in the air) outside the box, but one of his legs is stretched and touches the inside area of the box.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi John
Very simply it is the location of the contact between the ball and the hand/ arm that counts not the position of the player.
As described that would NOT be a penalty as the hand / arm contact on the ball is outside the penalty area.
If any part of the ball is on the penalty area line it is deemed to be inside the area and if it is handled in that position by a defender it is a penalty kick.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi John,

It is where the contact is - not the player. When the foul is against an opponent (such as tripping an opponent), we judge the penalty from where the point of contact is - not the location of any other body parts.

For handball, it is where the location of the ball is - and we use the entire ball, not the part of the ball that was touched.

Say, for instance, that the ball is 90% in the outfield and 10% above the PA line. Because the lines form part of the area they enclose, this means the ball is inside the PA. So, if that defender deliberately handled the 90% part of the ball, it is still a penalty.

But where the legs are have no impact.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi John ,
as described it would be a DFK outside the PA with possible situational consideration for caution for USB show a yellow card or a send off show a red card for DOGSO via handling.

The DFK foul of handling ball deliberately is based entirely on the ball location, as long as it is in play. The fact that even if a small piece of the ball was to break the plane of the PA boundary line if the hand touched the part of the ball outside it Still would be a PK.

Think on the 5 inch lines that make up the PA boundary lines as a 5 inch wall of water extending straight up into the sky , if the ball is the slightest bit wet it is INSIDE the area of which those boundary lines enclose!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi John,
I'm wondering if this might have anything to do with the penalty awarded for Olympique de Marseille against Olympiakos Piraeus last night? If so, from what I could see on the only freeze frame I was able to get (a not very good quality one admittedly) it looked to me as if the ball was just slightly overhanging the line when it made contact with the player's hand, so as my colleagues have explained, that would make it a penalty - assuming the referee saw this as a handling offence, which he obviously did.