What is being questioned?
Every question in this scenario
The Corner and goal kick investigation scenario asks 18 questions and can reach 31 decisions. A walk answers only the ones its own answers lead to. This is the whole set, for reference and for revision.
1What is being questioned?
Both start with the whole of the ball passing over the goal line with no goal scored. Which restart follows turns on who touched it last.
Answers: Whether it should have been a corner or a goal kick · The goal kick itself · The corner kick itself
2What happened at the goal line?
Law 17 adds two routes to a corner that have nothing to do with the ball going out at all.
Answers: It went out last touched by a player of the attacking team · It went out last touched by a player of the defending team · The whole of the ball never passed over the line · The referee penalised the keeper, or a delayed goal kick
3What is in question about the goal kick?
Law 16's catch-all is a retake rather than a change of possession, which is where it differs from Law 15.
Answers: How the kick was taken · Where the opponents were · The ball went straight into a goal · The kicker played the ball again · A player was taking too long over it
4Was the ball stationary, inside the goal area, and kicked by the defending team?
Two things people expect are not required: the ball no longer has to leave the penalty area, and the goalkeeper does not have to take it.
Answers: Yes · No
5What did the opponents inside the penalty area do?
Law 16 declines to punish an opponent who simply had no time to get out, and asks what they did instead.
Answers: They were still inside the area but did not play the ball · One touched or challenged for the ball before it was in play · One entered early and fouled, or was fouled
6Which goal did the ball enter?
A goal may be scored directly from a goal kick, which sets it apart from a throw-in, but only against the opposing team.
Answers: The opponents' goal · The kicker's own goal
7Was the kicker's second touch a handball offence?
This comes before the others because the two answers have different sanctions.
Answers: Yes · No
8Was the handball inside the kicker's own penalty area?
Where the second touch is a handball offence, the ordinary handball sanctions apply instead.
Answers: Yes · No
9Was the kicker the goalkeeper?
A goalkeeper cannot commit a handball offence inside their own penalty area, so the penalty kick has nothing to rest on.
Answers: Yes · No
10Where had the countdown got to?
The referee whistles and counts five seconds down visually with a raised hand.
Answers: Dawdling, or putting the ball outside the goal area · In the act of kicking as the count reached zero · The five seconds ran out with the ball not in play · The delay continued after the corner was given
11What is in question about the corner kick?
Law 17's catch-all, like Law 16's, is a retake.
Answers: How the kick was taken, and where the ball was placed · Where the opponents were standing · The ball went straight into a goal · The kicker played the ball again · The kicker deliberately kicked the ball at an opponent
12Ball in the right corner area, kicked by an attacker, flagpost left alone?
Law 17 asks for the ball to be in the corner area rather than on any spot within it. The area is the quarter circle at the flagpost.
Answers: Yes · No
13Did the opponents stay 9.15 m (10 yds) from the corner arc until the ball was in play?
The distance is measured from the arc rather than from the ball, which matters at a short corner.
Answers: Yes · No
14Which goal did the ball enter?
A goal may be scored directly from a corner kick, but only against the opposing team.
Answers: The opponents' goal · The kicker's own goal
15Was the kicker's second touch a handball offence?
At a corner the second touch rule starts while the ball can still be inside the corner area.
Answers: Yes · No
16Was the handball inside the kicker's own penalty area?
At a corner the kicker is an attacker at the other end of the field, so this limb almost never fires.
Answers: Yes · No
17Was the kicker the goalkeeper?
This needs a goalkeeper who went up for the corner, and the ball to have travelled the length of the field.
Answers: Yes · No
18Was the kick at the opponent careless or reckless, or did it use excessive force?
Knocking the ball against a defender on the arc to win it straight back is licensed.
Answers: Yes · No
Every decision it can reach
Each one is where a walk ends, with the reasoning it prints. The clause behind a decision is cited on the decision itself, which you reach by walking to it.
Goal kick
A goal kick is awarded when the whole of the ball passes over the goal line, on the ground or in the air, having last touched a player of the attacking team, and a goal is not scored. Nothing about intent enters it: a shot deflected wide off an attacker's own team-mate is a goal kick, and so is a cross that clips an attacker on its way out.
Corner kick
A corner kick is awarded when the whole of the ball passes over the goal line, on the ground or in the air, having last touched a player of the defending team, and a goal is not scored. The mirror of the goal kick, and decided by the same single fact: who touched it last. A defender's deliberate clearance and a deflection off a defender's boot are the same thing for this purpose.
The ball is still in play
The ball is out of play only when it has wholly passed over the goal line or touchline, on the ground or in the air. Part of the ball overhanging the line means the ball is on the field, because the line belongs to the area it bounds. Law 9 then provides separately that the ball stays in play when it rebounds off a goalpost, crossbar or corner flagpost and remains on the field, which is a second rule rather than a consequence of the first.
Corner kick, as a sanction
Law 17 lists two corners that are punishments rather than restarts after the ball has gone out: the referee penalising the goalkeeper for controlling the ball with their hand or arm for more than eight seconds, and penalising a player for delaying the taking of a goal kick for their team. Law 17's bullet is a summary, and the rule it summarises is in Law 12, which adds the three conditions the summary drops: the goalkeeper must be inside their own penalty area, the eight seconds run before releasing the ball, and control means the ball between the hands or arms, between a hand or arm and any surface, held in an outstretched open hand, or being bounced or thrown up. So a corner can now be awarded with the ball nowhere near the goal line.
Correctly taken, and the ball is in play
The ball is in play when it is kicked and clearly moves. That is the whole test since the requirement to leave the penalty area was removed, so a goal kick played two metres to a centre-back standing on the six yard line is in play from the moment it moves, and an opponent outside the penalty area may close on it immediately.
The goal kick is retaken
Law 16 closes with a catch-all: for any other offence, the kick is retaken. So a kick taken from outside the goal area, taken while the ball was still moving, or taken by an attacking player goes back and is taken again by the defending team. Nothing passes to the opponents, which is the difference from a throw-in taken incorrectly, and Law 16 prints no card for the procedure itself.
Play continues
If, when a goal kick is taken, any opponents are inside the penalty area because they did not have time to leave, the referee allows play to continue. The defending team is free to take the kick as fast as it likes and an attacker cannot leave a penalty area instantly, so presence alone is not the offence. This is the clause that makes the quick short goal kick workable at all.
The goal kick is retaken
An opponent who is in the penalty area when the goal kick is taken, or who enters the penalty area before the ball is in play, and who touches or challenges for the ball before it is in play, causes the kick to be retaken. Touching or challenging is what turns presence into an offence, and before the ball is in play is what makes it one: the same player winning the ball a moment after the kick has clearly moved it has done nothing wrong.
The goal kick is retaken, and a card may follow
If a player enters the penalty area before the ball is in play and fouls or is fouled by an opponent, the goal kick is retaken and the offender may be cautioned or sent off, depending on the offence. The restart does not move to a free kick or a penalty, because the ball was not in play when the offence happened, but the misconduct is punished on its own terms. Note that the clause reaches the player who was fouled as well as the one who fouled, since either can be the one who entered early.
Goal
A goal may be scored directly from a goal kick against the opposing team, so a goalkeeper's kick that carries the length of the field and beats their opposite number is a goal with nothing further to check. An attacker cannot be offside directly from a goal kick either, which Law 11 provides separately.
No goal: corner kick to the opponents
If the ball directly enters the kicker's goal from a goal kick, a corner kick is awarded to the opponents. It is also the corner kick Law 17 gives for a ball that passes over the goal line last touched by a defending player.
Indirect free kick to the opponents
Where the kicker was the goalkeeper, an indirect free kick is awarded rather than a penalty kick. A goalkeeper who takes a goal kick and then picks the ball up before anyone else touches it has committed the second touch and not a handball offence, because handling inside their own penalty area is not an offence for them, so the sanction stays where the second touch put it.
Penalty kick to the opponents
A penalty kick is awarded if the offence occurred inside the kicker's penalty area, unless the kicker was the goalkeeper. So an outfield player who takes the goal kick and then handles the ball before anyone else touches it concedes a penalty against their own team, which is the harshest outcome in Law 16 and the reason outfield goal kicks are worth thinking about.
Direct free kick to the opponents
Where the kicker commits a handball offence in touching the ball a second time outside their penalty area, a direct free kick is awarded rather than the indirect free kick a second touch normally gives. The upgrade is the handball, so the ordinary Law 12 handball test still has to be met before this applies.
Indirect free kick to the opponents
If, after the ball is in play, the kicker touches the ball again before it has touched another player, an indirect free kick is awarded. Since the ball no longer has to leave the penalty area, this is easier to commit than it used to be: a goalkeeper who taps the ball forward, changes their mind and takes a second touch has committed it inside their own area.
The countdown can start anyway
The referee does not have to wait for a player to have possession of the ball to start the five-second countdown, and where the player deliberately causes a delay the protocol names slowly retrieving the ball and putting the ball in an incorrect position at a goal kick as things that can start it. Ruleside reads an incorrect position as outside the goal area, since Law 16 permits the kick from any point within it, so moving the ball around inside the area is not that trigger. Nothing is punished yet: the clock is simply the referee's to start.
Not penalised, and the goal kick stands
As the purpose of the countdown is to maintain the tempo of the match by preventing time-wasting at throw-ins and goal kicks, the player should not be penalised if they are in the process of kicking the ball as the referee reaches the end of the countdown. The count is a tempo device rather than a stopwatch, and a player already striking the ball has done what the count exists to make them do.
Corner kick to the opposing team
If the goal kick has not been taken by the end of the five seconds, a corner kick is awarded to the opposing team, taken on the side of the field closest to where the goal kick was to be taken. That is a heavier sanction than the throw-in equivalent, where the restart merely changes hands, and it is why a goalkeeper running down the clock at a goal kick is now taking a real risk. No card follows for this alone.
Caution: delaying the restart of play
Where the restart is awarded to the opposing team, a caution applies only if the player or a team-mate then excessively delays the restart by the opposing team. Both conditions have to be met: after the award, and excessive. A goalkeeper who concedes the corner and gets on with it has not earned a card, which is the change from the previous edition, where the delay itself was the caution.
Correctly taken, and the ball is in play
The ball is in play when it is kicked and clearly moves, and Law 17 adds in its own words that it does not need to leave the corner area. So the short corner tapped a few centimetres to a team-mate standing beside the flag is a legal restart and the ball is live from the moment it moves, which is also the moment the second touch rule starts running against the kicker.
The corner kick is retaken
Law 17 closes with the same catch-all as Law 16: for any other offence, the kick is retaken. A ball placed outside the corner area, a ball still moving when struck, a flagpost pulled out of the ground to make the swing easier, or a kick taken from the wrong corner all go back and are taken again by the attacking team. Nothing passes to the defending team for a procedural failure.
Nothing to punish
Opponents must remain at least 9.15 m from the corner arc until the ball is in play, and once it is in play they may close as fast as they like. A defender sprinting out to a short corner the moment the ball moves has done nothing wrong, and a defender standing ten yards from the arc is entitled to be there however close that puts them to a short pass.
The corner kick is retaken, and the caution is the part that is not optional
An opponent inside 9.15 m of the corner arc before the ball is in play has broken the one distance requirement Law 17 sets, and Law 17's catch-all sends any other offence to a retake. The card travels with the offence rather than with the retake, and it is printed in Law 12 rather than in Law 17: failing to respect the required distance when play is restarted with a corner kick sits in Law 12's list of offences a player is cautioned for, so the caution is mandatory in form. The retake is the default rather than the only outcome. Three things are true at once and the Laws do not reconcile them. Law 17 prints a retake for this offence. Law 5 prints a general power to allow play to continue when an offence occurs and the opposing team will benefit from the advantage, penalising the offence or ordering a retake if the advantage does not ensue within a few seconds, and the attacking team here is the opposing team to the offender. And Law 17 prints nothing excluding that power: unlike Law 13 it carries no advantage limb and no quick-restart exception of its own, which is silence rather than exclusion. So a referee who lets a well-worked corner run rather than calling it back is inside Law 5, and a referee who orders the retake is inside Law 17. The reading that the specific displaces the general is defensible, and so is the reading that it does not. What is not defensible is stating either as settled.
Goal
A goal may be scored directly from a corner kick against the opposing team, so a ball that curls in without anyone touching it counts with nothing further to check. An attacker cannot be offside directly from a corner kick either, which Law 11 provides separately, so there is no offside question to answer on a corner that goes straight in.
No goal: corner kick to the opponents
If the ball directly enters the kicker's goal from a corner kick, a corner kick is awarded to the opponents. It takes a corner driven the length of the field to happen, and the Laws provide for it anyway, in the same words as Law 16's own-goal case.
Indirect free kick to the opponents
Where the kicker was the goalkeeper, an indirect free kick is awarded rather than a penalty kick, because handling inside their own penalty area is not a handball offence for them and the penalty limb has nothing to rest on. The second touch is still an offence and its own sanction still applies.
Penalty kick to the opponents
A penalty kick is awarded if the offence occurred inside the kicker's penalty area, unless the kicker was the goalkeeper. Reaching this from a corner means the taker has chased the ball back the length of the field and handled it in their own box before anyone else touched it, which is why the clause reads oddly here and is still exactly what Law 17 provides.
Direct free kick to the opponents
Where the kicker commits a handball offence in touching the ball a second time, a direct free kick is awarded rather than the indirect free kick a second touch normally gives. The ordinary Law 12 handball test has to be met first: a touch with an arm that was not deliberate and did not make the body unnaturally bigger is no handball offence, and the second touch stands to be punished as a second touch.
Indirect free kick to the opponents
If, after the ball is in play, the kicker touches the ball again before it has touched another player, an indirect free kick is awarded. This is the short corner the taker plays again before anyone else has touched it, so the offence is complete.
This is decided on the Law 12 ladder, not by Law 17
Law 17's licence to kick the ball at an opponent in order to play it again is conditional on the kick not being careless or reckless and not using excessive force. Once that condition fails the licence does not apply, and what is left is an ordinary Law 12 offence, decided on the careless, reckless and excessive force ladder with the card that goes with it. Grading the kick on that ladder is what comes next.
Continues in the foul sanction scenario.
Play continues
If a player, while correctly taking a corner kick, deliberately kicks the ball at an opponent in order to play the ball again, but not in a careless or reckless manner or using excessive force, the referee allows play to continue. Two things follow. The ball has been kicked and has clearly moved, so it is in play, and it has touched another player, so the taker may play it again with no second touch offence.