Question Number: 25978

League Specific 2/17/2012

RE: etc College

vahid molaei of Perugia, Perugia Italy asks...

Dear sir
I have a question about futsall rules of the game:

Is there any different between deny a goal and opportunity of goal scoring or no?and in futsal and football are differents?

I asked this question because in one futsal match , I send off defending player per a foul behind the penalty area.(considered : defending player was behind the attacking player and direction was direct to Goal / the distance was near the goal / just goalkeeper was in goal / the foul occured by defending player that was behind the attacker player / the foul was Trips an opponent . but said me that because goalkeeper was in the goal,defending player doesn't send off and this position is not opportunity goal scoring and laws of the futsal is different from football in this situation.

thank you

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Vahid
The Law is there to punish cynical fouls that deny an obvious goal scoring opportunity. The referee is the sole judge of that. Clearly the player believed there was 'merit' in committing the foul and as described your decision was 100% correct. The player is being disingenuous by trying to say that because the goalkeeper is in the goal that it is not an obvious goal scoring opportunity. Off course it is and it is treated the same as regular football.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

I referee both variants of the game, and the laws of the game are identical in this regard, along with their interpretation.

Not too sure what you mean by 'behind' the penalty area' though...