Question Number: 19959

Law 13 - Free Kicks 9/15/2008

RE: Pro College

mohan.r of bangalore, karnataka india asks...

indirect free kick is given the ball goes directly in to the goal what is the decision and how to restart the game.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

As long as the referee CORRECTLY indicated it WAS an INDIRECT free kick by raising the arm. ONLY if the referee FAILED to indicate properly it was an INDFK offence could the kick be retaken!

If the kicker smacked the ball directly into the opposing goal with NO SECOND touch the restart is a GOAL kick! Reason being the attacking team last touched the ball before crossing the defender's goal line!

If the kicker smashed the ball into his own goal the restart is a Corner kick be it an INDFK or DFK
Reason being, His own team last touched the ball before crossing his own goal line and it is an inpossibility to score on yourself directly from any restart
If the INDFK orginated inside ones OWN penalty area and was kicked into ones own goal it is a retake as ANY free kick out the BALL must CLEAR the boundrylines into play to become live

Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Assuming the kicker is aiming in the correct direction, and kicks an indirect free kick directly into the opponent's goal, the restart will be a corner kick. The ball completely crossed the goal line, last touched by the attackers, and a goal did not score.

If the player should have been so unlucky to put an indirect free kick directly into his own goal after it was put in play(*), the restart would be a corner kick. This would also apply to all direct free kick restarts, as you cannot score against yourself on a direct free kick - in effect they are all 'indirect' for your team.

(*) - Any free kick taken from within a team's own penalty area is not in play until it enters the field beyond the penalty area. This makes kicking an own goal in this situation unlikely. If the ball does not clear the penalty area, the free kick is retaken.

Well, that's a whole lot more than you wanted to know, wasn't it? All of this is spelled out in excruciating detail in Law 13.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

If kicked into the opponents goal that would result in a goal kick. If kicked into the players own goal it would depend upon where the kick took place. If it was inside his own penalty area then the restart would be a retake of the kick. If outside his own penalty area the restart would be a corner kick for the opponents.