Penalty Kick Rules in Soccer: When It's a Penalty and What Happens Next

A penalty kick is awarded for one reason, and it is narrower than most sidelines think: a defender committed a direct free kick offence inside their own penalty area. Not "a foul near the goal." Not "the ball hit an arm in the box." A specific list of offences, in a specific place. Everything else about the penalty — where the goalkeeper's feet have to be, who can stand where, what happens when someone sprints in early — follows from Law 14, and most of it was rewritten in the last few years.

Penalties are rare in youth soccer and enormous when they happen. A U12 team can go most of a season without one, and then a Saturday morning turns on a single decision that half the touchline is convinced was wrong.

Here is what the Laws actually say: when it's a penalty, how the kick is taken, what the referee does when someone encroaches, and how a shootout works when a tournament game is tied.

When is a penalty kick awarded?

Law 14 settles it in one sentence: "A penalty kick is awarded if a player commits a direct free kick offence inside their penalty area or off the field as part of play."

Two conditions, and both have to be true.

It has to be a direct free kick offence. Law 12 lists them: charging, jumping at, kicking, pushing, striking, tackling or tripping an opponent "in a manner considered by the referee to be careless, reckless or using excessive force," plus holding an opponent, impeding with contact, and "a handball offence (except for the goalkeeper within their penalty area)." Offences that carry an indirect free kick never become penalties, no matter how close to the goal they happen. That split is the whole subject of our guide to direct vs indirect free kicks.

It has to be inside the penalty area. The penalty area — not the small goal area box, not "near the goal." And what matters is where the offence happened, not where the ball was at the time.

One consequence surprises people every season: a goalkeeper handling the ball inside their own penalty area is never a penalty for handball. Law 12 writes the keeper out of the handball offence explicitly. Whatever a keeper does with their hands in their own box, that particular offence is not available. Our handball rule explainer covers what does and doesn't count for everyone else.

Where does everyone have to stand?

Law 14's procedure is short, and every position in it is fixed:

That fourth row is what the arc outside the box is for. It marks the 10-yard radius, so a legal position means outside the penalty area and outside the arc and level with or behind the spot — all three at once.

The goalposts, crossbar and net "must not be moving" when the kick is taken, which sounds like a technicality until a keeper starts shaking the net.

Can the goalkeeper come off the line?

Partly. This is the rule people get wrong in both directions.

The Law is precise: "When the ball is kicked, the defending goalkeeper must have at least part of one foot touching, in line with, or behind, the goal line."

Read the last three words. A keeper is allowed to be behind the line — standing deep in the goal is perfectly legal. What they cannot do is have both feet entirely in front of the line at the moment the ball is struck. One heel clipping the line is enough. A two-yard charge before contact is not.

The keeper also has to stay between the posts and facing the kicker until the ball is kicked, and "must not behave in a way that unfairly distracts the kicker, e.g. delay the taking of the kick or touch the goalposts, crossbar or goal net."

The punishment, though, is gentler than most parents assume — see the table below.

Can you stutter-step before a penalty?

In the run-up, yes. At the end of it, no.

Law 14 makes it an offence to feint "to kick the ball once the kicker has completed the run-up (feinting in the run-up is permitted); the referee cautions the kicker."

So the hitching, stop-start approach you see on TV is entirely legal. What's banned is the extra fake after you've finished running and arrived at the ball. And this is the one penalty offence where scoring doesn't save you: illegal feinting brings a caution and an indirect free kick to the defending team whether or not the ball ended up in the net. If you want the wider picture on what earns a card, we've covered yellow and red cards separately.

One more requirement: the kicker "must kick the ball forward; backheeling is permitted provided the ball moves forward."

What happens if someone runs in early?

Encroachment used to be simple and strict — anybody in early, retake the kick. It isn't that anymore. Now it depends on who encroached and whether it actually changed anything.

There's a single idea underneath all of it: the team that didn't offend shouldn't lose out. A defender who charges in early and watches the penalty go in anyway gets no reprieve — ordering a retake would reward the offence. A keeper who comes off the line and gets beaten anyway concedes the goal. And a keeper who comes off the line and saves it only faces a retake if leaving early is what made the difference.

Can the kicker score off the rebound?

Off the goalkeeper, yes. Off the post, no.

Law 14 says the kicker "must not play the ball again until it has touched another player." A save that spills back out has been touched by the keeper, so the kicker is free to follow it in. A shot that comes back off the post or crossbar has not touched anyone — the woodwork isn't a player — so if the kicker buries the rebound, it's a second touch, and the restart is an indirect free kick to the defending team instead of a goal.

That one costs a goal in youth games more often than any other detail on this page.

How do penalties work on a small-sided youth field?

The procedure is identical. The geometry is not.

Law 1 puts the penalty mark "11 m (12 yds) from the midpoint between the goalposts" and draws "an arc of a circle with a radius of 9.15 m (10 yds) from the centre of each penalty mark" outside the penalty area. Those are full-size numbers. On 7v7 and 9v9 fields, the penalty area and the mark shrink with the rest of the field, and the exact distance is fixed by your competition's field standard rather than by Law 1 — which is why a U10 penalty spot looks so alarmingly close to the goal. Our youth field dimensions guide walks through how each format scales.

What doesn't shrink is the human element. On a small-sided pitch, pushing every other player 10 yards behind the spot and outside the box clears a far larger share of the field than it does at full size, so a youth penalty is an unusually lonely thing: two children, a long walk, and everyone else watching from what feels like the next postcode.

How does a penalty shootout work?

Kicks from the penalty mark are their own procedure, set out in Law 10:

• A coin toss picks the goal, and it "may only be changed for safety reasons or if the goal or playing surface becomes unusable."
• A second toss picks the order. The team that wins it "decides whether to take the first or second kick."
• Only players who finished the match are eligible — "players who are on the field of play or are temporarily off the field of play (injury, adjusting equipment etc.) at the end of the match."
• Numbers are equalised first. If one team finished with more players than the other, "it must reduce its numbers to the same number as its opponents." A team that had someone sent off doesn't get to field a bigger pool of takers.
• Five kicks each, alternating, and every kick is taken by a different player — the whole eligible group kicks once before anyone kicks twice.
• Still level after five? "Kicks continue until one team has scored a goal more than the other from the same number of kicks."
• A goalkeeper who can't continue may be replaced by a player excluded to equalise numbers or by a named substitute, and the replaced keeper "takes no further part and may not take a kick."

Whether a tied youth game goes to kicks at all is not the Law's call — it's your competition's. Most league fixtures simply end level. Knockout rounds at a tournament don't, and whether that means overtime first or straight to kicks is written in the tournament rules. Read them before the game, not while it's being decided.

What this looks like from the sideline

Three things to take to Saturday:

1. It's only a penalty if it's a direct free kick offence, and only if it happened inside the penalty area. Everything else near the goal is something smaller.
2. The keeper needs part of one foot touching, in line with, or behind the goal line when the ball is kicked — and may legally be standing further back than that.
3. Somebody stepping in early is not an automatic retake anymore. If it didn't change the outcome, the outcome stands.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a handball in the penalty area always a penalty kick?

No. It's a penalty only if it's an actual handball offence under Law 12, committed by a defender inside their own penalty area. Contact that doesn't meet the Law's definition isn't an offence at all, and the goalkeeper is explicitly excluded from the handball offence inside their own penalty area, so a keeper handling the ball there is never a penalty on those grounds.

Can the goalkeeper move before a penalty kick is taken?

Yes, within limits. The keeper may move along the line and may stand behind it, but when the ball is kicked they must have "at least part of one foot touching, in line with, or behind, the goal line," while staying between the posts and facing the kicker. If they come off the line and the penalty is scored, the goal stands. If they come off the line and save it, the kick is retaken only when the offence clearly impacted the kicker.

Can you stutter-step in your run-up on a penalty kick?

Yes. Feinting during the run-up is permitted. What's not allowed is feinting to kick after the run-up is complete — that's a caution for the kicker and an indirect free kick to the defending team, regardless of whether the ball goes in.

Can the penalty taker score from the rebound?

Only if the ball touched another player first. A rebound off the goalkeeper can be followed in and scored. A rebound off the post or crossbar cannot: the kicker playing it again counts as a second touch, and the restart is an indirect free kick to the defending team.

How many kicks does each team take in a penalty shootout?

Five each, taken alternately, with every kick taken by a different player until everyone eligible has had one. If the score is still level after five apiece, the kicks continue until one team has scored more than the other from the same number of kicks.