Fouls on the Goalkeeper

The Laws give the goalkeeper one protection nobody else has: they cannot be challenged at all while in control of the ball with the hands or arms. Preventing them from releasing the ball, or kicking at it as they release it, is a separate indirect free kick offence. Every other challenge on a goalkeeper is judged as it would be on any player: an offence when it is careless, reckless or uses excessive force.^1, ^2, ^8, ^9, ¹⁵

Key points

✓A goalkeeper in control of the ball with the hands or arms cannot be challenged at all^11, ¹⁵
✓Any careless, reckless or forceful challenge on the goalkeeper is a direct free kick, on the same test as for any player^1, ²
✓Where the ball is loose the goalkeeper has no special standing, so a foot played at a grounded keeper is judged as careless, reckless or excessive force^1, ^2, ^4, ^5, ⁶
✓Preventing goalkeeper releasing the ball = indirect free kick^8, ⁹
✓Attempting to kick ball while goalkeeper is releasing it = indirect free kick^8, ⁹
✓Goalkeeper collision with attacker: the test is careless, reckless or excessive force, not who arrived first^1, ^4, ^5, ^6, ^7, ¹⁰
✓A goalkeeper fouled in their own penalty area: free kick from where the offence occurred, except inside the goal area, where it may be taken from anywhere in that area^16, ¹⁷

Read the full rule

Scenarios

Scenario 1

Attacker bundles goalkeeper over the line

No goal

A corner is delivered and an attacker charges into the goalkeeper with their body, pushing them over the line with the ball.

Correct call: Direct free kick and no goal. The attacker pushed and charged the goalkeeper carelessly at least, and an offence by the attacking team before the ball enters the goal means there is no goal to award.

Common mistake: Allowing the goal because the ball crossed the line. The ball crossing the line settles nothing where the attacking team committed an offence in putting it there.

Law^1, ^2, ³

Scenario 2

Goalkeeper on the ground, attacker challenges with foot

Foul

A goalkeeper dives to save a shot and is on the ground. An attacker challenges for the loose ball with their foot, making contact with the goalkeeper.

Correct call: Direct free kick. The ball is loose, so the no-challenge rule for a goalkeeper in control does not apply and this is judged on the ordinary test: playing a foot into a goalkeeper who is down and cannot protect themselves is at least careless, and reckless if the danger was disregarded, which adds a caution.

Common mistake: Two opposite errors. Allowing play because the attacker was going for the ball, which the test never asks about; or calling it automatically because the goalkeeper was down, when what makes it an offence is the carelessness of the challenge and not the goalkeeper's position.

Law^1, ^2, ^4, ^5, ^6, ¹⁵

Scenario 3

Attacker kicks ball out of goalkeeper's hands

Foul

A goalkeeper holds the ball and is in the process of releasing it. An attacker kicks the ball out of their hands.

Correct call: Indirect free kick. Preventing the goalkeeper from releasing the ball or kicking it while they are releasing it is a specific offence under Law 12.

Common mistake: Allowing play because the attacker played the ball. The protection of the goalkeeper during release is explicit in the Laws, the ball cannot be challenged at that moment.

Law^8, ⁹

Scenario 4

Goalkeeper and attacker both go for the ball

No foul

A goalkeeper rushes out and an attacker also goes for the ball. They collide with each other. Both were going for the ball.

Correct call: The referee judges whether either player was careless, reckless or used excessive force. If it was a genuine 50/50 with neither, play continues: both players have a right to their position on the field.

Common mistake: Automatically giving the foul to the goalkeeper. A genuine collision where both players were going for the ball is not necessarily a foul, and being in the way of an opponent is not the same as moving into the way of one.

Law^1, ^4, ^5, ^6, ^7, ¹⁰

The full rule

The goalkeeper is in a uniquely vulnerable position, often airborne, stretched, or on the ground with no ability to protect themselves. What the Laws do about that is narrower than it is usually described. There are exactly two goalkeeper-specific provisions. A goalkeeper in control of the ball with the hand(s)/arm(s) cannot be challenged by an opponent at all, and control is defined: the ball between the hands or between a hand and a surface, held in an outstretched open hand, or being bounced or thrown up. And an opponent may not prevent the goalkeeper releasing the ball from the hands, or kick or attempt to kick the ball while the goalkeeper is in the process of releasing it, which is an indirect free kick. Everything else is ordinary Law 12. A charge is an offence where the referee judges it careless, reckless or made with excessive force, and those three words carry the sanction as well as the decision: careless needs no card, reckless is a caution, excessive force is a sending-off. Charging is not banned, and the Laws do not set a separate standard for a charge on a goalkeeper. Where the ball is loose and the goalkeeper is not in control of it, a challenge is judged on the same test as any other, which in practice puts almost any foot played near a grounded goalkeeper into at least the careless band, because the danger and the lack of precaution are what the test asks about. That last step is Ruleside applying the test rather than quoting a rule, and the Laws work through no example of it. On a collision where both players go for the ball, the question the Laws ask is whether either player was careless, reckless or used excessive force, not who got there first: all players have a right to their position on the field, and being in the way of an opponent is not the same as moving into the way of an opponent. Where a goalkeeper is fouled inside their own penalty area, the free kick is taken from where the offence occurred, with one exception that covers most of these cases: a free kick to the defending team inside its own goal area may be taken from anywhere in that area.^1, ^2, ^4, ^5, ^6, ^7, ^8, ^9, ^10, ^11, ^12, ^13, ^14, ^15, ^16, ¹⁷