Question Number: 29185

Kicks From The Penalty mark 2/18/2015

RE: Adult

Darrell of grafton, nsw australia asks...

If you take a penalty in shootout hit the cross bar ball goes up lands in front of goal then spins back towards then over the line is it a goal.. if herd no goal cause penalty is finished after ball has finished its forward motion.. is that true?

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

This is a goal.

The kick continues until the momentum of the ball has been spent (in the referee's opinion). There is no 'forward motion' rule for when a goal can be scored on kicks from the penalty mark.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Darrell
Myth I'm afraid. The goal is good. Law 14 makes no mention of forward motion. This is what the Law states and I quote
* 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'*
As you can see there is no mention of direction of the ball just that it can hit any combination of the frame of the goal and goalkeeper indeed several times if there is enough momentum on the ball from the kick to carry it over the line.
Some suggest that this does not apply to Kicks from the Penalty Mark which is incorrect. The Laws state, '*Unless otherwise stated, the relevant Laws of the Game and International F.A. Board Decisions apply when kicks from the penalty mark are being taken'*
This Law was clarified after an incident in the 1986 World Cup game between Brazil and France that went to Kicks from the Penalty Mark. A French kick rebounded out off the post, hit the Brazilian's goalkeeper back, and subsequently bounced into the goal. Referee Ioan Igna awarded the goal to France, and the Brazilian captain was booked for protesting that the kick should have been considered a miss as soon as it rebounded off the post.
At its annual meeting in 1987, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) clarified Law 14 covering penalty kicks, on a proposal from the Scottish FA , to confirm Referee Igna's goal decision (who did not have the benefit of the current wording) which we have today albeit with updated wording which I quoted above.
Now frequent visitors to the site will be aware that this question has been asked a number of times in respect of two relatively recent strange incidents which you can view here.
The referees correctly awarded goals in both instances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5ybOqQm59Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbVgvgjIbs0
In both instances the ball crossed the goal line from the momentum of the original kick.

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

See Question: 29188