Question Number: 15615

Law 13 - Free Kicks 5/26/2007

RE: select Adult

Gordon of Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA asks...

In the situation of an indirect free kick, if a player toucehs the top of the ball with his studs, and another then strikes the ball into the net - is it a goal?

Does the ball have to do a rotation? Does the 1st player have to have a kicking motion or does touching it suffice in allowing the goal?

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

No and no. The ball "must be kicked and moved" before it may be kicked by another player into the net. Yes, a "kicking" motion must be employed at least here in the USA

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

A kick is made with the foot, using a kicking motion. The ball does not have to go a full revolution, but it must move "from here to there". If the first touch is deemed by the referee not to be a kick, then the player that blasts it toward the net, is the first touch. If the ball goes in the net without touching any other player, it is not a goal. Instead, the ball has gone over the goal line and no goal was scored - the definition of a goal kick. (It would be a corner kick if they kicked it into their own goal.)

This is the position of the USSF:

USSF answer (November 14, 2005):
The kicking team is always given more leeway than the defending team for deceptive tactics, but adjusting the ball with the foot is not the same as kicking it.

We recommend for your reading this brief article, to be published in the next issue of Fair Play:
The Kick Restart
Dan Heldman and Jim Allen

This is a simple guide for referees?and for the players whose games they officiate?on what it means to kick the ball at a restart.

The first requirement of any kick restart (free kick, penalty kick, corner kick, goal kick) is that the ball be "kicked," rather than merely touched or dragged with the foot, to be considered as ?kicked.? The foot must be used, no other body part. The second requirement is that the foot must cause the ball to "move" to another place. In other words, as a result of the action of the foot, the ball goes from here to there. A simple tap on the top of the ball, even though it may cause the ball to quiver, tremble, or shake, that does not make that ball move to a new space, is not a kick. Nor is putting one's foot on the ball and dragging or rolling it to a new space considered to be a kick.

Such simple concepts?"kick" and "move?? but difficult to define without being complex, technical, or obscure. The referee has to make the final decision on what is a "kick" and what is "not a kick." This must be based on his or her feeling for the game?what FIFA calls "Fingerspitzengefuehl.? The bottom line is that not everything that produces movement of the ball is a kick and thus would not legally put the ball into play in any of the kicking restarts.

( Source: http://www.drix.net/jim/past054.html )

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

Stamping on the ball is not a kicking motion. Therefore, the ball was not in play. So, the result would be a goal kick - as an indirect kick was kicked directly into the goal.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

You ask if a player touches and another kicks. Law 13 mentions something about a goal can't be scored until another player touches the ball after it is in play. Law 13 also mentions something about the ball having to be kicked and moved before it is in play. Your question answers itself when, of course, you include what Law 13 says.

Regards,

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

See Question: 15636