Question:
Team A gets a penalty in their favour and allows their keeper to take it. Team B now gets the ball to the centre, everyone in their respected halves, touches the ball, shoots immediately and scores before the Team A’s keeper reaches back in his post.

My question is, does the referee have to check with both goalies before blowing the whistle to resume play?

My answer: (May 5, 2012):
No, the referee need not check with either goalkeeper at ANY restart.

Interestingly, nothing is said in the scenario about the referee whistling to signal that the kick-off could be taken. There is no requirement in the Laws of the Game that the referee check with the goalkeepers to see if they are ready. Failing that, and given that the kick-off is always ceremonial, it falls entirely to the referee to determine when the kick-off can occur, subject only to the requirements of the Law that each team must be in its respective half of the field. The referee is empowered to allow a corner kick (or a throw-in) to be taken even though the ‘keeper has not returned to the field of play, so there is no reason to assume that the goalkeeper, in his joy at scoring, should not return to his normal kick-off position for the KO to take place.

However, in a different situation, it is customary (but not required by the Laws) to allow players who have been substituted in for other players to reach their normal positions before any restart. This would be especially true of the goalkeeper.

To illustrate the first point, observe this videoclip (http://www.askasoccerreferee.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Celebration-Too-Soon1.wmv):…

Question:
I am curious about the kickoff in EPL and other leagues.
Fifa rules say the winner of the coin toss has to decide the side and
the looser has kickoff.
Now it looks like in EPL the winner can decide if he wants to choose
the side or take kickoff.

How is it possible that EPL rules differ to Fifa rules?

And do you know how this is handled in foreign leagues?

USSF answer (February 20, 2012):
Law 8 is clear on who takes the kick-off and we cannot imagine that the EPL has received permission to do it wrong.

Procedure
Before a kick-off at the start of the match or extra time
* a coin is tossed and the team that wins the toss decides which goal it will attack in the first half of the match.
* the other team takes the kick-off to start the match.
* the team that wins the toss takes the kick-off to start the second half of the match.
* in the second half of the match, the teams change ends and attack the opposite goals.

We are not aware of any countries that do such a thing.…

Question:
I was watching the below clip from a professional match. The referee restarted play with a drop ball. The red team expected the white team to kick the ball back to them because the red team had the ball before played was stopped. Instead, the white player took the ball and went on to score despite the protests. The referee went on to send off the scorer. I’m assuming it was for unsporting behavior (and hopefully that was his second yellow card and not a straight red).

So I have a few questions. Can you caution a player for unsporting behavior because they refuse to play “fair play” at a drop ball? If so, does the goal still count and what is the proper restart? Also, what punishment if any do the red players get for confronting the scorer and attempting to trip him?

Video: http://youtu.be/uwDA5vYkz28

USSF answer (December 16, 2011):
The answers to your questions in the order in which they were asked:
1. No, although the referee might have detected some separate misconduct by the white player that we non-Lusophone (Portuguese or Brazilian) speakers are unable to comprehend from the match commentary. Lacking an understanding of the language, we can say only that there is absolutely no requirement under the Laws of the Game that the white player surrender the ball to the red team.
2. If some misconduct by the white player was detected, then no, the goal does not count; the proper restart would be an indirect free kick from the place where the misconduct occurred.
3. If the referee applied the advantage for these attempted trips, then there is no punishment necessary.…

Question:
At a kick-off, a player is straddling the halfway line (or, more dramatically, has one foot on the line and the other in the opponent’s half). Referee did not call an infringement or foul of any kind, trifling or otherwise.

My Background: Law 8 doesn’t say that a player can’t be in the opponent’s half, only that he must be in his own half. It seems to me that when the Laws say “outside”, they mean “completely outside, and not on, over, or above the line”. My interpretation of “inside” would be “any part of the head, torso, legs, or feet on, over, or above the line”.

I believe the referee’s decision was correct, but a colleague (a referee instructor) said that, for the purposes of Law 8, a player is not in his half if any part of him can be considered to be in the opponent’s half, thus any player having his head, torso, leg, or foot on, over, or above the line violates the Law, and the referee must either order the kick-off retaken or adjudicate the infraction as trifling and let play continue.

Question: At kick-off, is a player considered to have “gained the line” (to borrow an ice-hockey term) in the scenario above? More specifically, we both agreed that play should continue in the scenario, but disagreed as to whether it is a trifling infringement (ATR 5.5) or no offense.

USSF answer (September 15, 2011):
Yes, ALL players are expected to remain in their own half of the field until the ball is in play. Being in play means that the ball has been kicked and moved forward, even if that forward motion may be only slight. Custom seems to be a bit more laissez faire, with the player who is to receive the kick-off normally a short step or two into the other team’s half. Despite being counter to the Law, this is accepted practice throughout the world.

In most cases, the offense, if any, is TRIFLING, particularly when the teammate of the kicker is slightly or even mostly over the line by a step or so and this is the player who is going to “receive” the ball from the kick-off. However, a player who is more than a brief step or so over the halfway line should be instructed to return to his own side of the halfway line.…