A&H

9v9 Goal kicks clarity required

JudgeDreadful

New Member
My sons U10 coach approached me recently to ask me about goal kicks in 9v9 U12 football. One of the teams he coaches is struggling to effectively clear the ball from goal kicks so he wants to work on some drills. He asked me for clarity in the law, specifically are defenders allowed to receive the ball from the goalkeeper INSIDE the penalty area. Obviously we see this is open age football but he wanted to be sure the same rules applied for 9v9. I told him I was pretty sure it was OK but then I found some conflicting information on the internet. An FA 9v9 guidelines booklet I downloaded said normal Law 16 rules apply but then another official FA booklet for a local league said that on a goal kick 'The ball is in play when it is kicked directly out of the penalty area. Should the goal kick not leave the penalty area then the kick is re-taken.'
Can anyone clarify this ? Thanks.
 
The Referee Store
My sons U10 coach approached me recently to ask me about goal kicks in 9v9 U12 football. One of the teams he coaches is struggling to effectively clear the ball from goal kicks so he wants to work on some drills. He asked me for clarity in the law, specifically are defenders allowed to receive the ball from the goalkeeper INSIDE the penalty area. Obviously we see this is open age football but he wanted to be sure the same rules applied for 9v9. I told him I was pretty sure it was OK but then I found some conflicting information on the internet. An FA 9v9 guidelines booklet I downloaded said normal Law 16 rules apply but then another official FA booklet for a local league said that on a goal kick 'The ball is in play when it is kicked directly out of the penalty area. Should the goal kick not leave the penalty area then the kick is re-taken.'
Can anyone clarify this ? Thanks.
Depends who updates their leaflets accordingly, and where you are.

For example, I've just done a search and gotten a 2018 FA Guidance for officials "Law 16 - As per The Laws of the Game 2017/18. The ball is in play when it is kicked directly out of the penalty area. Should the goal kick not leave the penalty area then the kick is re-taken."

A second example that popped up is a similar document from Football South Australia, who use the following: "Goal kick: Goal kicks can be taken from anywhere within the penalty area. Opponents must be outside the penalty area until the ball is in play" and "Other than the rules specified in this document, all other rules will be in accordance to the FIFA Laws of the Game and the Football SA Rules and Regulations."

My third example is from Football Victoria (also in Australia), which says "Goal kick: Goal kicks can be taken from anywhere within the penalty area. Opponents must be outside the penalty area until the ball is in play. The ball is in play once it is kicked and clearly moves. Players from the defending team may receive the ball inside the penalty area from a goal kick. "

It's basically a matter of finding what body is the enforcer for your area.
 
Depends who updates their leaflets accordingly, and where you are.

For example, I've just done a search and gotten a 2018 FA Guidance for officials "Law 16 - As per The Laws of the Game 2017/18. The ball is in play when it is kicked directly out of the penalty area. Should the goal kick not leave the penalty area then the kick is re-taken."

A second example that popped up is a similar document from Football South Australia, who use the following: "Goal kick: Goal kicks can be taken from anywhere within the penalty area. Opponents must be outside the penalty area until the ball is in play" and "Other than the rules specified in this document, all other rules will be in accordance to the FIFA Laws of the Game and the Football SA Rules and Regulations."

My third example is from Football Victoria (also in Australia), which says "Goal kick: Goal kicks can be taken from anywhere within the penalty area. Opponents must be outside the penalty area until the ball is in play. The ball is in play once it is kicked and clearly moves. Players from the defending team may receive the ball inside the penalty area from a goal kick. "

It's basically a matter of finding what body is the enforcer for your area.
Thanks for the reply. The first example you found will be the same one I found. However I also downloaded the attached from the FA website which states normal laws apply. i have no idea how old it is though as it's not dated.

I'm going contact the referee officials from the league I'm in to see if they can shed any light on it. It's quite ironic all this as in one of my first games I noticed a team taking the goal kicks from the edge of the penalty area. I didn't pull them up on it as I wasn't 100% sure if the rule was different for 9v9. After the game I asked an U12/U11 coach and he said they should be taken from the goal area. In my next game I enforced this when a keeper again placed the ball on the edge of the area. There were no complaints from coaches. Fast forward to my latest game, almost every single time one of the teams had a goal kick they would run straight into trouble due to the goalkeeper having a poor kick. The team lost 8-0 in the end conceding at least 2 goals from their own goal kicks. It got me thinking it would actually be fairer at this age to be able to place it on the edge of the area.
 

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  • u11-and-u12-youth-development-review-booklet.pdf
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Sorry, just realised that’s for u10 football which you do but you’re not asking about that. I’m afraid it does look like they don’t use retreat lines for U12
Yes sorry it's U12's that's in question, shouldn't have put that U10 at the start, confuses things. There's no retreating required in U11/U12 it's just the other goal kick issues I need a bit of help on ! cheers...
 
The FA 9v9 guide says normal laws apply:

The FA 9v9 Laws.pdf

Law 16 Goal Kicks - Normal rules apply, as per Laws of Association Football.

1. Procedure
  • The ball must be stationary and is kicked from any point within the goal area by a player of the defending team
  • The ball is in play when it is kicked and clearly moves
  • Opponents must be outside the penalty area until the ball is in play

So anywhere within the six yard box, defenders can receive inside the area, ball is in play once it's kicked. (This is certainly how I officiate at u11/u12 in my local league - Oxfordshire)

Looking at the 2018 date on your league guidance pdf it's likely that it hasn't been updated in line with the rule change of 2019/20?
 
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