Goalkeeper: 8 Second Rule & Ball Control

A goalkeeper who controls the ball with the hands or arms inside their own penalty area for more than eight seconds concedes a corner kick to the opposing team. This replaced the old six second rule, which was punished with an indirect free kick and was almost never enforced.^8, ^14, ^15, ¹⁶

Key points

✓Goalkeeper may control the ball with the hands or arms for up to eight seconds⁸
✓The sanction is a corner kick to the opposing team, not an indirect free kick^8, ^14, ^15, ¹⁶
✓The referee decides when control starts, then visually counts down the last five seconds with a raised hand¹²
✓Control includes bouncing the ball on the ground or throwing it in the air, so neither resets the count^8, ^9, ^10, ¹¹
✓Applies only inside the goalkeeper's own penalty area⁸
✓An opponent cannot challenge the goalkeeper while they are in control of the ball with the hands or arms¹³

Read the full rule

Scenarios

Scenario 1

Goalkeeper holds the ball for 10 seconds

Foul

A goalkeeper catches a cross and holds the ball for 10 seconds without releasing it.

Correct call: Corner kick to the opposing team. The referee starts counting when the goalkeeper gains control and raises a hand to count down the last five seconds, so the deadline is visible before it passes.

Common mistake: Awarding an indirect free kick. That was the old six second sanction and is the reason the rule was almost never enforced. The restart is now a corner kick.

Law^8, ^12, ^14, ^15, ¹⁶

Scenario 2

Goalkeeper bounces the ball on the ground

Foul

A goalkeeper holds the ball, bounces it on the ground, then gathers it again and holds it for five more seconds.

Correct call: The count runs continuously from when control was first gained. Bouncing the ball on the ground is explicitly listed as control, so if the total passes eight seconds it is a corner kick to the opposing team.

Common mistake: Treating the bounce as a release that restarts the count. Bouncing the ball and throwing it in the air are both forms of control under Law 12.

Law^8, ^11, ^12, ^14, ^15, ¹⁶

The full rule

A corner kick is awarded to the opposing team if a goalkeeper, inside their own penalty area, controls the ball with their hand(s) or arm(s) for more than eight seconds before releasing it. The goalkeeper is considered in control when the ball is between their hands or arms, or between a hand or arm and any surface such as the ground or their own body, when holding the ball in an outstretched open hand, and when bouncing it on the ground or throwing it in the air. The referee decides when control begins and the eight seconds start, and visually counts down the last five seconds with a raised hand, so the goalkeeper can see the deadline approaching rather than being caught by a silent count. While the goalkeeper is in control of the ball with the hands or arms, an opponent cannot challenge for it. The change matters because of the sanction, not the extra two seconds. Ruleside's account of why, and it is an account rather than a citation: the old six second rule carried an indirect free kick, a punishment severe enough inside the penalty area that referees almost never gave it, so the rule went unenforced, and a corner kick is a proportionate sanction that referees will actually award. Neither of those two sentences can be cited from the Laws. A superseded provision has no home in the corpus outside the Law changes section, which this site does not cite, and how often referees gave a rule is a claim about referee behaviour that no clause can support. What the Laws do carry is the last limb: the edition names the eight-second measure and the further steps taken against deliberate tempo disruption in its own words, and those are the clauses cited for it. Separately, a goalkeeper still concedes an indirect free kick for touching the ball with the hand or arm after releasing it and before it has touched another player, or after it has been deliberately kicked to them by a team-mate or received directly from a team-mate's throw-in, unless they have clearly kicked or attempted to kick the ball to release it into play.^1, ^2, ^3, ^4, ^5, ^6, ^7, ^8, ^9, ^10, ^11, ^12, ^13, ^14, ^15, ¹⁶