Football Dead Ball Situations

What Dead-Ball Situations Can You Score Directly From In Football?

Last updated on October 24th, 2022

Dead ball situations are an important part of football. Many teams would spend hours creating dead ball routines on the training ground with the aim of scoring from them.

However, you may wonder if it’s possible to score a goal from certain dead-ball situations, so here’s a guide for you:

Can you score directly from a dropped ball in football?

You are unable to score directly from a dropped ball in football, as the ball needs to touch at least 2 players before the goal is counted. This means that if you kick the football directly from a dropped ball into the goal, it would not count.

Drop balls are rather rare events in football. Usually, they would occur when there has been some kind of outside interference that stops the run of play.

Some examples include:

  • An intruder on the pitch
  • The ball turns flat

The ball will be dropped from where the ball was last positioned, and it will be given to the team in possession with all opposing players 4m away.

Contested drop balls were abolished in 2019 by the IFAB:

Screenshot 2022 02 09 at 21.08.09

Moreover, even if the attacking team so happens to take the ball from the defending team, they won’t be able to score directly from it.

This is because the Laws of the Game mentioned that a goal will not count if the dropped ball touches less than 2 players.

Cannot Score Directly From Dropped Ball

The way that the play is restarted is similar to when a goal is scored directly from a throw-in.

Some players may still have been confused by the rules, which led to this incident by Bruno Fernandes:

Can you score directly from a corner kick in football?

It is possible to score directly from a corner kick, where the corner kick taker will be able to curl the ball directly into the net.

As mentioned in the Laws of the Game, it is possible for you to score directly from a corner kick.

Score A Goal From A Corner Kick

Corners are one of the more common dead ball situations in football.

Inswinging corners are often more dangerous as they are able to end up in the goal.

With the right technique, a player can curve over the goalkeepers head and into the back of the net.

Here are some examples of players scoring from a direct corner kick:

It is quite possible to score from a corner kick, such as this goal by Juan Román Riquelme.

and another by Antoine Griezmann.

An interesting rule is that you can’t score an own goal from a corner kick! In this extremely unlikely situation, a corner kick will be awarded to your opponents.

Can you score directly from kick-off in football?

It is possible for you to score a goal directly from the kick-off in football. However, in the event that you score an own goal from the kick-off, the opposing team will be awarded a corner instead, provided that no one else touched the ball.

It is mentioned in the Laws of the Game that you will be able to score a goal directly from kick-off.

Score A Goal From Kick Off

Goals direct from kick-offs are uncommon, but they do happen. The goalkeeper would normally need to be caught away from his goal line, such as in this video from Brazil!

Another example was this attempt by Demba Ba against Arsenal, which nearly resulted in a goal!

However, it is quite rare for a striker to attempt a shot directly from kick-off.

Conclusion

The Laws of the Game permit you to score a goal directly from a corner kick or from the kick-off.

However, due to the changes in the rules of a dropped ball, it is not possible for you to score directly from a dropped ball.

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