Question Number: 28490

Law 13 - Free Kicks 6/11/2014

RE: Club Under 16

Paul of Paramus, NJ USA asks...

This question is more for clarification. I know that the defense must be 10 yards away, for any free kicks outside of the penalty area, until the ball is put in play. So does that mean that if the attacker has a very weak kick and it only goes 3-5 yards the defensive team is allowed to come in and play the ball? Also if a defender takes a quick free kick inside their own penalty area and it hits an unsuspecting opponent but never leaves the penalty area, it can not be played right (since the ball was never left the area)? Third question why does fifa use yards instead of meters, why is 10 yards (9.1 meters) not 10 meters?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The defenders must stay at least 10 yards from the ball until the free kick is taken. After that they are free to move to intercept the ball.

A defender may take a kick quickly inside the penalty area, but if the ball is touched by any player from either team before it leaves the area, the kick must be retaken.

FIFA uses meters (often spelled metres) in the Laws because that is the standard of measurement in most of the world. Distances were originally set in yards because that was the more common measurement back in the 19th century when the Laws were first codified.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Paul
1. Once the ball is kicked at a free kick it is in play and opponents may then move towards the ball to play it.
2. If a kicked restart inside the penalty area by the defending team is touched by another player inside the penalty area the kick is retaken as the ball is not in play until it leaves the penalty area.
3. IFAB the law making body was originally made up of the Football Associations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland only. It now has 4 FIFA members who are from other associations worldwide. In the UK all measurements were imperial. British law now defines each imperial unit in terms of the metric equivalent. The metric system is in official use within the United Kingdom for most applications; however, use of Imperial units is still widespread amongst the public and all UK roads still primarily use the imperial system miles etc except for tonnage on main roads. The solution is to use both measurements with the measurements in metric and converted to yards. So 10 yards which was the original distance in the Laws which has not changed is displayed as 9.15 metres.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

These are basic questions that are easily covered within the laws of the game.

1. Once the ball is kicked and moves then all players may run to play ball.
2. If the ball does not leave the penalty area and touches a player, then the kick must be retaken.
3. I believe the answer is because it was originally written in English which used the English system and not metric.

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 28510