Question Number: 30190

Law 14 - Penalty kick 3/10/2016

RE: Rec Under 12

Richard Morrison of Duarte , Ca USA asks...

When a player is taking a penalty kick can he stop his forward motion, before kicking the ball, to fake the goalie?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Richard
No that is not possible. The player may feint yet he is not allowed to stop.
This became a particular problem in South America causing IFAB to spell this out clearly in the Laws. It was always understood as being unacceptable to stop yet the law did not actually state it clearly. What was happening was that players were running up. stopping just as they were about to kick, the goalkeeper would dive and the player would then slot the ball uncontested into the other side of the goal. It was called a paradinha. That is now a caution for the kicker and a retake of the penalty kick.
In these example those are now a caution and a retake
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmEHynpR2vc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=788q49gBGjk
Interestingly that was never allowed in UK and Ireland. It was always a retake for an incorrectly taken kick without the caution. Now a caution is required in Law. It rarely happens however and I have never seen it. The players feint, stutter yet never stop the forward movement and kick

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Richard ,
hard to add anything of value to my colleague's well thought out answer.
Get the kick over with with a minimum of fuss. I like the tap over to a running 2nd player ONLY if there is no encroachment!
Cheers