Rob, a U13 – U19 referee, asks:
Law 8 The Start and Restart of Play (2020)
Just want to make sure, that a drop ball restart can be directly kicked into goal.
Assume Red player A1 awarded drop ball outside Blue penalty area (after some incident), Blue team creates defensively wall, everybody ready, referee drops ball, ball lands softly, player A1 kicks directly into goal. Goal counts and restart is kickoff.
Similarly, Blue defensive wall players can immediately rush the Red player A1 as soon as ball touches ground because ball is in play, right?
Answer
As for your first scenario, no, it cannot (well, actually, it “can” enter the goal but the goal cannot be counted). Law 8 lays all this out clearly.
Regarding any dropped ball restart, a goal can only be counted if and only if the ball, once dropped and touches the ground, has been contacted by at least the foot/feet of the player to whom the ball was dropped and then be contacted a second time by any lawful contact (i.e., any body part other than the hand or arm – unless this second contact was the goalkeeper within his/her own penalty area) with a second player.
Here are some scenarios that may help to clarify this. Ball is dropped, hits the ground, and
- Is kicked by A5 to his/her teammate A12 who then kicks the ball into Team B’s goal. Goal scored.
- B23 plays the ball with his/her foot and continues dribbling toward Team B’s goal, at which point B23 makes a shot on goal and the ball enters the net. No goal, goal kick coming out.
- B17 makes a successful direct shot on Team A’s goal. No goal, goal kick coming out.
- A10 attempts a pass to his/her own goalkeeper from the left outside Team A’s penalty area. A1, the goalkeeper, grabs for the ball but it slides off his/her hands and goes into Team A’s goal. Goal scored.
- A10 attempts a pass to his/her own goalkeeper from the left outside Team A’s penalty area. The ball goes over the goalkeeper’s head and then into the goal. No goal, corner kick restart.
- B11 plays the ball but inadvertently kicks from the side of his/her foot to an open area. B11 quickly runs to the ball and kicks it again. The ball goes to B17 who dribbles toward Team A’s goal, shoots, and scores. Goal scored. Note that (as in scenario 2 above), unlike every other restart, the “second touch” rule doesn’t apply to dropped ball restarts.
As for your second scenario involving the requirement for all opponents to withdraw 4 ½ yards from the dropped ball restart location, this is handled exactly the same as with any other “required distance” restart. Opponents required to be any certain distance from the restart location, may not approach closer than the minimum distance until the ball is in play (i.e., when the dropped ball hits the ground in this case). Failure to do so is a cautionable offense. Similarly, the failure to get back to the minimum distance is also cautionable … and, if requested by the attacking team, the referee can, if needed (as would also be the case in a free kick), to step in to enforce the minimum distance but, in this case, no whistle is required since it is the referee who initiates play by dropping the ball.
