Question Number: 34677

Kicks From The Penalty mark 8/25/2022

Ref of Nil, Australia asks...

Hi was there or is there still a rule regarding kicks from penalty mark where the ball hits the crossbar and both the goal posts ?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
In Kicks from the penalty Mark the same conditions apply as in Law 14.
So in KFTPM when the ball hits the frame of the goal the ball is still “live” until it goes wide or comes to a complete rest. Clearly the kicker cannot touch the ball twice in KFTPM yet the ball can hit any combination of goalkeeper and frame of the goal in any order even multiple times and if the ball crosses the goal line the goal is awarded.

In the 1986 World Cup France beat Brazil in a penalty shootout. One of the French penalties hit the post and then came back to hit the goalkeeper with the ball ending up in the goal. The referee correctly awarded the goal. Brazil protested the award of the goal and the result yet IFAB confirmed that the referee was totally correct and that the goal was good. IFAB amended the law at the next AGM to ensure that there could be no confusion about the matter although like all wording some still interpreted incorrectly that a ball was “dead” after a rebound which is not the case.
Referee Grove has included the current wording which in effect means that as the ball has to come to a complete stop or go wide for the kick to be completed.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi,
once a ball is given momentum on a PK through the force applied in the kick,
the ball must come to rest, go into touch, or be controlled by the keeper for the PK to be considered over
Now a rebound where it deflects way out to the side or center off the posts, crossbar, keeper or any combination, the PK could be considered over if there was no obvious backspin and said ball was simply rolling away into space AWAY from the goal as it were .

Yet in cases where the ball is spinning or goes up into the air, bounces off the ground or hits the posts, crossbar, keeper or any combination and has but the slightest of chances to fully cross the goal line under the crossbar between the posts we MUST under the LOTG allow its momentum to extinguish itself, go into touch , or be controlled by the keeper for the PK to be considered over,
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Ref from Nil,
There is no longer a part of the law on KFTPM that specifically references the ball hitting the frame of the goal, but there is wording that applies, albeit in an indirect manner, as follows:

"The kick is completed when the ball stops moving, goes out of play or the referee stops play for any offence: the kicker may not play the ball a second time."

Since the ball can hit the frame of the goal and still keep moving, this means that by inference when it hits the bar or post and does not come to a complete stop, the kick is not yet completed.