Question Number: 15425

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 5/8/2007

RE: rec Under 11

william ott of gaithersburg, maryland usa asks...

If a defender passes the ball back to his/her keeper while the keeper is still in the box, as we see often in pro soccer, may the keeper pick up the ball and punt it?

In our last game the local referee called a handball and gave the opposing team an indirect free kick when this happened.

Afterwards, when I questioned the call, politely of course, the referee insisted that FIFA rules state that the keeper may only dribble/kick the ball if it is passed to him/her by a defender and not touched by the other team.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Law 12 says, "An indirect free kick is awarded to the opposing team if a goalkeeper, inside his own penalty area, ... touches the ball with his hands after it has been deliberately kicked to him by a team-mate." The decision made by the ref in your game appears to be correct, assuming the pass to the keeper was a deliberate kick. He might have explained it better, leaving out the word handball which does not appear anywhere in the Laws of the Game.

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

The referee was correct, minus the wording of the explaination, but he got the call right.

It looks like you might fine a reading of the FIFA laws of the game useful so you won't need to question the referee after a game, it could save you a bit of embaressment and the referee a little aggravation.