Question Number: 31027

Law 10 - Determining the Outcome of a Match 11/16/2016

Jim of london, uk asks...

Hi
When the referee tosses a coin to determine who takes the first kick in a penalty shoot out, Does the winner of the toss choose first or second kick or must the winner of the toss go first...?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Jim
The winner of the toss has choice of his team taking the first or second kick in Kicks from the Penalty Mark.
A recent change to the KFTPM procedure is that the referee is now allowed a coin toss to decide which end to use for the kicks. Prior to this the referee had to choose the end which could be a difficult decision depending on where supporters where positioned.
To quote from the relevant Law 10
** # Unless there are other considerations (e.g. ground conditions, safety etc.), the referee tosses a coin to decide the goal at which the kicks will be taken which may only be changed for safety reasons or if the goal or playing surface becomes unusable
# The referee tosses a coin again and the team that wins the toss decides whether to take the first or second kick**