Question Number: 26224

Law 14 - Penalty kick 4/23/2012

Anon of Altadena, unite states asks...

This question is a follow up to question 26207

Why wouldn't this be an IFK for the defense at the penalty mark under the reasoning of ATR 14.12 (which I believe was based on a prior IFAB decision), which dictates that if the PK taker kicks the ball backwrd to a teammate, the failure to follow procedures of the PK results in an IFK for the defense. (Excepting, of course, the scenario posited by a couple of answers that it bounced off the goal post all the way to the other end.)

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
If the penalty kick is not taken in line with the procedure as set out in Law 14 and the ball does not enter the goal then the referee awards an IDFK to the opponents from where the offence took place. the identified penalty taker back heeling or kicking the ball backwards from goal would be punished by an IDFK, taken from the penalty mark
That should not be confused with a defender kicking the ball away off the penalty mark either into the goal or out of play as a gesture of dissent. That is a caution and the penalty kick is taken by the identified penalty taker.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

If the ball was kicked backwards, it would be an indirect free kick for the opponents from the site of the kick (essentially at the PK mark).

Our answers to 26207 assumed that the kicker took the kick properly - forward - but it still somehow ended up in his own goal. That would require a huge kick, rebound from the crossbar, a bunch of inattentive players, and probably tornado force winds.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Mine didn't. I've never understood how at any restart if the ball was not ever put into play the restart changed. But that's what FIFA said should happen if at a penalty kick the ball is back heeled to a teammate. This ruling was followed by a lot of posturing how this terrible deed brought the game into disrepute.

In this question the ball was not back heeled to a teammate and until FIFA makes another equally silly ruling regarding kicking the ball at your own goal at a penalty kick, I'll stick with at any restart if the ball is not put into play the restart cannot change which is true for every other restart in soccer. (at a foul throw-in the restart doesn't change, possession does but it's still a throw-in)

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

The fact remains that the ball has to be kicked forward to be in play. If it was kicked backwards, you are correct, it would be an IDFK to the opponents.

But the question was worded in a rather confusing fashion. Normally a defender is not taking a PK, so that left us with trying to decipher exactly to what the questioner needed an answer.

If what the questioner meant was the ball was put into play correctly by an opponent at a PK, and the ball then goes to a defender in some fashion, and the defender kicks it into his own net, then it is a goal, assuming no violation of the procedure or the Law has occurred.