Question Number: 34911

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 3/10/2023

Crebs Crem of Zagreb, Croatia asks...

Hi,

I have a question regarding the handball rule.

The rule states it is an offence if a player scores in the opponents’ goal:
- directly from their hand/arm, even if accidental, including by the goalkeeper
- immediately after the ball has touched their hand/arm, even if accidental

When saying “immediately”, does it mean single touch?
Is it an offence if the ball touches the player’s arm accidentally, the player dribbles the ball for 2-3 steps, takes a shot and scores a goal?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Crebs
While immediately is not defined it is understood much like advantage in that it is within 3 to 4 seconds which could run to multiple touches.

In your example 2 to 3 steps would certainly be considered immediately so the goal should be disallowed and a direct free kick restart

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Crebs,
funny two quick questions on this same topic lol 34910 was on this same topic.
Much like advantage is calculated within that 2 to 3 possibly 4 second window when a referee decides yes or no if it was achieved, so too this handling issue has an expiry date of a few seconds. A slight variation is if the accidental handling was beneficial for control but that player instead of scoring or shooting were to redirect a pass to a teammate who scored, UNLESS the pass was an immediate tap over to a teammate who_ IMMEDIATELY_ scored in an empty net chances are the goal could count as a new phase of play.
Cheers

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 34930