Question Number: 34517

Law 3 - The Players 2/27/2022

RE: Competive Adult

Joe of Taipei, Taiwan asks...

Situation:
Teams are level at FT and ET. Both teams have exhausted their substitutions. After the final whistle, the teams go into the penalty shootout. The other team gets one of their field players to switch with their GK (assuming he is an specialist shot-stopper). The GK was not substituted, sent off or injured at the end of the game.
Is this allowed? I have seen field players replace GK when the GK gets injured or sent off but never switching after the final whistle and with no apparent reasoning.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Joe,
Yes, this is allowed. The law simply says that only players who are on the field at the end of the match (or temporarily off, for injury, adjusting equipment etc) can participate in kicks from the penalty mark. It does not specify what role those players must fulfill during the kicks.

There is a provision about replacing an injured keeper if the team has not used all its allowable substitutions but that isn't relevant (or applicable) in the scenario you describe here.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Joe
Yes most certainly. It is up to a team to decide what player is assigned the goalkeeper duties on the field of play and to wear the goalkeeper jersey. It is not a substitution and it can happen at any time in the game including Kicks from the Penalty Mark. It must happen at a stoppage in play which includes KFTPM including every single penalty kick and the referee must be informed. The reason is that the change of jersey clearly identifies the GK plus the referee needs to know for caution purposes what numbers are reassigned. .

I have seen this quite a lot at underage where in Kicks from the Penalty Mark a team may decide that it had a better shot stopper playing outfield and puts that player into goal for the kicks. Maybe that player is the regular goalkeeper and in the game situation due to player numbers or having two goalkeepers the regular goalkeeper was better playing outfield than his counterpart. For whatever reason it is clearly allowed to change roles as it sees fit with the caveat of letting the referee know.