Question Number: 32701

Law 14 - The Penalty kick 9/11/2018

RE: Comp and Rec Other

ANTONIO ORTIZ of SACRAMENTO, CA US asks...

On a penalty kick (kick off the mark), can an opponent be on the side of the area as long as he does not pass the ball, and what is the restartif he is in front of ball when kick is made.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Antonio,
yes the player can be along the outside of outer section of the 18 yd PA parallel to the touchlines as long as they remain 12 yds from the goal line on a PK. As in any thing to do with encroachment it can be ignored as trifling if it does not affect the on going play or give cause for retake. NO referee should whistle the go ahead to start a PK until the positional requirements are achieved first.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Anthony
A player may stand to the side of the penalty area provided he is not ahead of the ball. So the referee should not whistle for the kick to be taken until all the players are in the correct position which in this instance is behind or level with the ball.
If the player infringes Law 14 between the whistle and the kick the restart is an IDFK from where the infringement took place that is the players position.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Antonio,
The Laws say that at a penalty kick, all players except the kicker and the opposing goalkeeper must remain:

''at least 9.15 m (10 yds) from the penalty mark
behind the penalty mark
inside the field of play
outside the penalty area''

So the players can be on the side of the penalty area as long as they are behind the penalty mark. However there is no tactical or logical reason why they would position themselves there as there is no advantage to be gained (it puts them further away from the ball than being on the 'back edge' of the penalty area) which is probably why I have never seen any player do this.

If there were to be a player in front of the penalty mark, the referee would not allow the penalty to be taken so the question of a restart should never arise.