Scoring directly from a corner kick

Scoring directly from a corner kick. Is that allowed? But does the referee need to whistle? An interesting case study with AZ player Oussama Idrissi.

The referee gives no signal to take the corner kick.

Whistle or not?

The Laws of the Game give advice on when you whistle as referee, but a referee does not require it in all situations.

Because the following restarts are clear, the referee does NOT need to whistle to restart play from:

• most free kicks,
• and a goal kick,
• corner kick,
• throw-in
• or dropped ball

Idrissi can take this corner kick, because waiting for a whistle is not mandatory. The AZ goal is legal.

Corner kick procedure

Just a quick recap of the corner kick procedure. The requirements are that the ball:

• must be placed in the corner area nearest to the point where the ball passed over the goal line
• has to be stationary and is kicked by a player of the attacking team
• is in play when it is kicked and clearly moves; it does not need to leave the corner area

There are two other requirements are that the corner flag remains at its place and oponents must remain at least 9.15 m (10 yds) from the corner arc until the ball is in play.

That’s okay here. And can you score? “A goal may be scored directly from a corner kick, but only against the opposing
team”.

All boxes ticked. A wonderful goal that will go around the globe.

Video: scoring directly from a corner kick

Watch the video below where Idrissi is scoring directly from a corner kick. It is a great example, because it is a rare situation.