Question Number: 29700

Law 13 - Free Kicks 9/14/2015

RE: Select Under 11

Kengo Baba of REDMOND, WASHINGTON United States asks...

When the goalie commits foul of passback rule right in front of goal lets say 5 feet away from goal line.

Q1) Where should the ball be placed for indirect kick?
Q2) Can defender make a wall on the goal line which will be within 10 feet of normal free kick distance where wall need to be place.
Q3) How about goalie? Goalie will be inside of 10 feet.

It make sense to bring ball back to the top of penalty and for indirect free kick, but what is the rule?

Thanks,

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Kengo,
Outside the goal area the indfk occurs from the exact spot of the infringement.
If there is an attacking INDFK that occurs ...INSIDE... the opposition goal area ...that kick can ...ONLY... occur on the outer edge of the 6 yard boundary line that parallels the goal line. This is referred to the special circumstances within the goal area that do not allow an attacking indfk to occur closer than six yards. The ball is brought straight back to that 6 yd line, no matter where the infraction occurs inside the goal area.

The defenders, including the keeper, ...MUST...be standing...ON... the goal line between the posts and under the crossbar for ANY attacking INDFK that is occurring closer than ten yards to that 6 yard minimum distance from the goal line. IF the defenders are NOT on the goal line, they must be 10 yards away in any other direction of the free kick. The goal line wall is the ONLY time defenders can be within the ten yard minimum distance on free kicks.

Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Kengo
On an attacking indirect free kick for an offence that happened in the goal area the ball is placed on the six yard line directly opposite from where the offence took place. All opponents must be either on the goal line between the goalposts and/or ten yards from the ball. Most including the goalkeeper chose to stand on the goal line. It is the only time that opponents can be closer than 10 yards from a free kick.

Answer provided by Referee James Sowa

Kengo,

The restart on a passback is determined by the location of the ball when the goalkeeper handles it. In your scenario above, I assume that 'right in front of the goal' means inside the 6 yard box. Any indirect free kick inside of the 6 yard box comes out to the top of the 6 yard box in a straight line from where the infraction occurred. Normally, the defenders must be 10 yards away. In this case, they are pushed as far back as they can be while remaining on the field of play. This means the defending players must be on the goal line and no closer. They must remain there until the ball is initially kicked.