Question Number: 19282

Law 13 - Free Kicks 6/5/2008

Avery Haskell of Overland Park, KS USA asks...

On which restarts can you score on yourself?

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Not from any of the restarts which require a throw or a kick. You can score on yourself (in a manner of speaking) from a dropped ball. It is unlikely - but possible if the dropped ball takes place in the penalty area or on the goal area line.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The actual technical answer is "none of them".

Ref Maloney mentions the dropped ball as an exception to that rule. But the dropped ball is put into play by the referee, not a player, and it is in play when it hits the ground. After that, it's just the same as any other ball bouncing around on the ground - free game for anyone to go for and take a shot at either goal. So you either have to remember the dropped ball as an exception to the "no direct own goals" principle, or you have to remember it as an exception that the player isn't actually doing the restart. Either way, you just have to remember that it's the one weird restart.

Incidentally, in Law 8 for the kickoff and Law 14 for the penalty kick, it doesn't specifically say you can't score against yourself. That is one of those "presumed that everyone knows" things. Since the ball has to go forward on those kicks, it's very unlikely that a direct own goal could be scored anyway.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

That would be none of them. On a dropped ball the ball is put in play by the referee not the player so once your team kicks it it's NOT a restart as the ball was already in play.