Question Number: 25961

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 2/10/2012

RE: Rec Other

K.Collins of Petaluma, CA United States asks...

Defensive player kicks ball back to goalkeeper, who picks up the ball with his hands two yards from the goal line, within the goal box area. What and where is the restart?
Indirect free kick by the attacking team on the 6 yard goal box area line from where the ball was touched by the goalkeeper, or at the 12 yard penalty mark?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

It is an indirect free kick.

Normally restarts take place at the site of the infraction. But that changes when inside the goal area.

For an inbound free kick, such as you described, the ball is moved out to the nearest point on the long edge of the goal area, the '6 yard line'. (The same applies to dropped balls that would have occurred inside the goal area.)

If it is an outbound free kick, the team may place the ball anywhere in the goal area, just as they do on a goal kick.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

1. The only restart whose location is always is the penalty mark is the penalty kick.
2. The offense for the goalkeeper touching a ball deliberately kicked by a teammate is committed by the keeper, not the teammate, so the location of the foul is where the keeper touched it. Outside of the goal area, that is where the restart would be.
3. Inside the goal area, the ball is moved to the 6 yard line perpendicular to the original location of the foul.
4. Defenders may be on their goal line even though it may be less than 10 yards from the ball..

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
An indirect free kick awarded inside the goal area must be taken on the
goal area line parallel to the goal line at the point nearest to where the
infringement occurred.
In this case the infraction happened inside the goal area so the restart is on the goal area line. Defending players must be 10 yards from the ball or positioned on the goal line until the ball is kicked and put into play.