Question Number: 20627

Law 14 - Penalty kick 12/2/2008

RE: Rec Adult

Seth of beavercreek, ohio united states of america asks...

Hi I just recently came back from a soccer game and have a question about a series of events that led up to our team not receiving a goal.

One of our players receives the ball inside the box and is fouled by the opposing team as he is taking a shot. The ball hits upper 90 and the ball goes in the goal bounces back out and then we put the ball in the back of the net again just in case because we heard no whistle. Then as the ball is going in for the second time the whistle is blown and we receive a penalty kick. As our player is taking the shot one of our players goes into the box, we make the shot but the referee saw the encroachment and awards us no goal and disallows a retake!

I just finished reading Law 14 from the up-to-date FIFA rules of soccer site so I know the PK should have been a retake, but are there any variations to this rule under high school, rec , or pro conditions that disallows PK retakes if the team taking the PK encroaches!? also what should have been the ruling on the first and second goals!?

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

If the ball went in the goal on the PK while one of your team encroached, then it should have been a retake. There are no other rules that apply to games played under the auspices of FIFA/USSF. This does not include high school or college, although their rules are slowly beginning to act more like the world game.

As for the first two instances, I can only assume the referee did not see the ball enter the goal on the first shot, and was in the process of blowing the whistle for the foul when the second shot was on its way into the goal. It happens fast like that sometimes. Was this a single referee game? If there were no assistant referees, the referee had no one to help him with whether or not the ball went into the goal on the first shot.

If the referee was screened, then he cannot call a goal he did not see. Even the best referees occasionally forget to hold the whistle for just a second after seeing a foul to see if an advantage can be realized. In your case, holding the whistle just a couple of seconds would have resulted in a goal instead of a PK.

I would recommend talking to the referee's assignor, explaining what happened, what you have found out since then and ask the assignor to visit with the referee and review the PK situation. Also ask the assignor to remind the referee to hold that whistle!

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

This is certainly not the first referee to make a mistake of not allowing a retake after encroachment at a penalty kick. It happened in a World Cup qualifying game shortly after the rule was changed in 2005 to allow IFK's when the ball doesn't enter the goal. Too many refs see that change, and forget it is only when the ball misses being scored.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Obvious breech of the Law to not allow a retake. As to what happened leading up to the penalty kick, I can only assume the referee never saw a goal scored or stopped play before the second goal scored. If he stopped play before all of the ball crossed over all of the line in accordance with law 10, then no goal

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

If you guys did not have bad luck you would have no luck at all.
If the referee or AR can not be positive the ball actually entered the goal as in completely cross the goal line under the crossbar and between the posts then no goal it is. As an opinion and a fact concerning play it is a done deal.

The resulting PK encroachment by the team mates of the attacker, if the shot was made, it is a retake! This is a proceedural mistake, the match is now protestable because, while the referee can have an opinion as wrong as it might be he CANNOT change the laws EVER!
Cheers