Question Number: 32142

Law 14 - The Penalty kick 1/5/2018

RE: Fun Other

Mekki Atoussi of London , Uk asks...

How much time the penalty taker have after the referee blow his whistle?
Thanks

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mekki
It is a question that rarely arises. Typically when a referee signals for the kick to be taken all the conditions have been met so there really should be no delay nor any reason for it.
So while there is no set time in terms of seconds there should not be an inordinate delay in the kick being taken. If there is an inordinate delay, done for timewasting purposes, the referee would be entitled to caution the offender for delaying the restart. I have never seen a kicker cautioned for this although I have seen goalkeepers cautioned for trying to put off the kicker with verbals, not retreating when asked, persistence in questioning the ball placement etc. The restart does not change.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Mekki ,
while there is no definite time mentioned I arbitrarily consider it like the keeper release. I expect things to progress within 6 seconds or we might have cause to consider this delaying the restart. In any restart we allow time to position , find and to retrieve ball, etc but once we blow to resume play our patience is quite limited! I generally warn first rather than immediately caution for delay of a restart but then there is another aspect USB to consider should it progress beyond a reasonable delay.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Mekki,
There is no set time. Most penalty takers will not wait too long - I would say that the longer the kicker waits, the more pressure they are putting themselves under so they will not want to prolong the wait unnecessarily.

If a referee were to decide that the player was taking too long, they would probably give a gentle reminder and I suppose if the player ignored the reminder and continued to prevaricate, the referee could eventually issue a caution for delaying the restart.