Question Number: 29150

Law 10 - Method of Scoring 2/1/2015

RE: Under 8

Kris Chesworth of Crewe, Uk asks...

During a penalty shootout one of our players hit the underside of the bar, the ball bounced down (not over the line) but then hit the keeper and went in. Should the penalty be a goal or not?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Yes, it should count.

From the Laws of the Game:
'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'

And as procedures for a penalty kick apply to kicks from the penalty mark, the above section applies.

You reference an Under 8 game - why do we need a 'shootout' to determine a winner in U8? In my area, we don't even report the scores for U8. Whether or not your referee got this decision right, I can see why a referee assigned to that age level would not know all the procedures for kicks from the penalty mark - he or she may never have administered one before.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Kris,
u-8 PK shoot out? Seems a tad unusual for that age group but as REF Voshol has correctly pointed out, provided the referee had not blown his whistle early, and there were no infractions by the attacking team at the taking of the PK, the goal should count.
Cheers
links to 2 very unusual but legal pk goals
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=strange+penalty+kick+goal+&FORM=VIRE2#view=detail&mid=0EDDC2CD993BD33DDFD30EDDC2CD993BD33DDFD3

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=strange+penalty+kick+goal+&FORM=VIRE5#view=detail&mid=B8169B4D5DBF32C96C50B8169B4D5DBF32C96C50

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Kris
Frequent visitors to the site will note that this question is asked regularly.
The correct decision is that a goal must be awarded so the referee was 100% correct in his application of the Law. The relevant section of the Law 14 states
**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
The referee decides when a penalty kick has been completed**
The same law 14 applies to kicks from the penalty mark.
So the ball can hit any combination of post, crossbar, goalkeeper, ground with the referee waiting for the momentum of the original kick to end and a goal is awarded if it cross the goal line into the goal. Obviously it cannot touch the kicker for a second time in which case the ball is called dead.
For those interested in the history of the game this ruling goes way back. In 1986 a French player did just this in a penalty shoot out in a WC game between Brazil and France. The ball hit the crossbar and the ball came back out and hit the Brazilian goalkeeper and went into the goal. The Referee allowed the goal to count on the day and France went on to win 4-3 on penalties.
There was a lot of controversy about the French penalty kick at the time due to a wording ambiguity in the law on when a penalty was completed. The Scottish Football Association, as a member of IFAB, sought clarification at the next AGM and it was agreed at the time that the referee's decision was correct and the wording changed to remove the ambiguity.
In the great rewrite of the Laws of the Game in 97/98 all that 1987 re-wording was expunged and the current wording which continues to reflects that original historic incident. BTW the referee on the day back in 1986 got it correct based on what he understood was the only possible outcome which was the ball was kicked and the momentum of the ball from the original kick carried the ball over the line. It just happened to hit the post and the goalkeeper to get there.