Question Number: 27344

Law 7 - Match Duration 4/22/2013

RE: Grade 1 Adult

Liam mc Guirk of Dublin, Rep of Ireland asks...

I notice in some of your questions that the phrase extended play comes up quite often,most recently in relation to penalty kick in extended play (26941) could you please explain this term as it is one I have not heard of before, is it a rule in underage football in the states, the answers to the question that the referee should not allow an attacker to touch the ball if the gk saves the initial pen has me baffled, the game lasts until the Ref blows the final whistle and obviously the whistle in the case of pen can't be blown unless the ball is dead or there has been an infringement of the rules during the pen, pen shoot outs are obviously diff and this is the only time the ball can not be touched by any player after a save or the ball striking the posts.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Extended time is very rare, but has long been part of the laws of the game. Its purpose is to require that a penalty kick be completed even if the referee otherwise has decided that time has expired.

Most of our experience is that the referee will add sufficient time to allow the match to be completed and will decide that the final whistle will come later.

In some amateur tournaments, the rules (and schedule) do not permit for added time, and extended time must apply if a penalty kick is awarded just before the end of regulation time. In that situation, the referee will inform the players that time has expired and the match will end when the kick is completed. In extended time, a goal can be scored only directly from the kick - just as in kicks from the penalty mark.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Liam
Law 7 of the Laws of the Game state that
'' if a penalty kick has to be taken or retaken, the duration of either half is extended until the penalty kick is completed''.
When that is coupled with Law 14 which states that
' When a penalty kick is taken during the normal course of play, or time has been extended at half-time or full time to allow a penalty kick to be taken or retaken, a goal is awarded if, before passing between the goalposts and under the crossbar:
# the ball touches either or both of the goalposts and/or the crossbar and/or the goalkeeper''.
Note there is no mention of a further touch by the kicker or another player.
So an example would be is that the referee has awarded a penalty in the last few seconds of the game. When the penalty kick is about to be taken time will have expired. In that situation the referee allows the kick to be taken and he awaits the outcome of the kick. Now clearly Law 14 does not allow any other player other than the goalkeeper to touch the ball after the kick is taken. So the kick is the final action of the half or the game.
It is probably more unique in the US where the timing culture is stricter with other sports having an influence such as basketball and football. In Europe many referee would find added time to allow play to continue after the penalty kick and may even see out a kick off before ending the game.