A theoretical situation brought to mind by the recent Croatia-Denmark game.

It's the world cup final. I'm a defender for Aland. Its the final minute of extra time and we look certain to go to penalties.... Aland always loses in penalties. Our opponents Bland on the other hand are pretty good at them...

So I make a decision. I go up to the Bland goalkeeper and knock him out with a right hook.

I'm sent off. But I don't care- I'm not one of my team's top penalty takers anyway. Actually its better that I don't have to take one as I'm sure to sky the ball, better it would loop back to our strikers asap.

Since Bland have lost their keeper in the dying minutes they lose the penalty shoot out easily.

It is certain that I'd be remembered as a 10x worse than Maradonna level unsporting scum bag in this situation. Perhaps banned from football for life? Certain I can never visit Bland....

But...Could there be legal consequences outside the game for such a blatant foul?

Why do these not apply in deliberate fouls of the like we saw in the recent Denmark-Croatia game?

A theoretical situation brought to mind by the recent Croatia-Denmark game.

It's the world cup final. I'm a defender for Aland. Its the final minute of extra time and we look certain to go to penalties... Aland always loses in penalties. Our opponents Bland on the other hand are pretty good at them...

So I make a decision. I go up to the Bland goalkeeper and knock him out with a right hook.

I'm sent off. But I don't care. I'm not one of my team's top penalty takers anyway. Actually its better that I don't have to take one as I'm sure to sky the ball, better it would loop back to our strikers asap.

Since Bland have lost their keeper in the dying minutes they lose the penalty shoot out easily.

It is certain that I'd be remembered as a 10x worse than Maradonna level unsporting scum bag in this situation. Perhaps banned from football for life? Certain I can never visit Bland...

But... Could there be legal consequences outside the game for such a blatant foul?

Why do these not apply in deliberate fouls of the like we saw in the recent Denmark-Croatia game?

A theoretical situation brought to mind by the recent Croatia-Denmark game.

It's the world cup final. I'm a defender for Aland. Its the final minute of extra time and we look certain to go to penalties.... Aland always loses in penalties. Our opponents Bland on the other hand are pretty good at them...

So I make a decision. I go up to the Bland goalkeeper and knock him out with a right hook.

I'm sent off. But I don't care- I'm not one of my team's top penalty takers anyway. Actually its better that I don't have to take one as I'm sure to sky the ball, better it would look back to our strikers asap.

Since Bland have lost their keeper in the dying minutes they lose the penalty shoot out easily.

It is certain that I'd be remembered as a 10x worse than Maradonna level unsporting scum bag in this situation. Perhaps banned from football for life? Certain I can never visit Bland....

But...Could there be legal consequences outside the game for such a blatant foul?

Why do these not apply in deliberate fouls of the like we saw in the recent Denmark-Croatia game?

A theoretical situation brought to mind by the recent Croatia-Denmark game.

It's the world cup final. I'm a defender for Aland. Its the final minute of extra time and we look certain to go to penalties.... Aland always loses in penalties. Our opponents Bland on the other hand are pretty good at them...

So I make a decision. I go up to the Bland goalkeeper and knock him out with a right hook.

I'm sent off. But I don't care- I'm not one of my team's top penalty takers anyway. Actually its better that I don't have to take one as I'm sure to sky the ball, better it would loop back to our strikers asap.

Since Bland have lost their keeper in the dying minutes they lose the penalty shoot out easily.

It is certain that I'd be remembered as a 10x worse than Maradonna level unsporting scum bag in this situation. Perhaps banned from football for life? Certain I can never visit Bland....

But...Could there be legal consequences outside the game for such a blatant foul?

Why do these not apply in deliberate fouls of the like we saw in the recent Denmark-Croatia game?