Can the event of kick-off going directly into the kicker’s own goal described in the Laws of the Game ever occur?

Question

The Laws of the Game state that, for a kick-off:

a goal may be scored directly against the opponents from the kick-off; if the ball directly enters the kicker’s goal, a corner kick is awarded to the opponents

I don't understand how this is possible :/

In every football match that I've seen, the kicker's kick goes straight into the opponent's half of the football field, as he stands facing his opponents. How then can the ball directly enter the kicker's own goal instead? The ball can't surely swing a 180deg U-turn mid-air to begin with...

Answer 1

You are assuming that the ball has to do a 180deg U-turn mid-air, whereas the new rule makes it possible to hit the ball directly towards own post.

LAW 8 - THE START AND RESTART OF PLAY

1.KICK-OFF

For every kick-off:

all players, except the player taking the kick-off, must be in their own half of the field of play

and FAQ of this rule mentions

the kick-off can now be kicked in any direction

I haven't found any goal happening as you mentioned per this rule, but it may happen by mistake, when the player taking the kick-off hits it towards his own post.

Source

Answer 2

No one will probably ever see such a thing happening, but the rules are good when they are complete and consider nearly every possible scenario. Besides that, there's no rule disallowing the players to kick-off into their own half.

If you look at the Details of all Law changes - Law 08 – The Start and Restart of Play - 1. Kick-off, the following part has been added recently:

...if the ball directly enters the kicker’s goal, a corner kick is awarded to the opponents

I assume as the first part of the rule considers the scenario of scoring directly against the opponents goal, the additional part was somehow needed to make the rule complete.

Answer 3

Are you confusing american fotball and soccer i.e. "european football"?

The kick-off in soccer is usually played backwards, towards your teammates. You cannot score an own goal from the kickoff, however you can, if the opposing team keeper is lounging and not paying attention, score against the opponent.

Very rarely is a soccer kickoff played "forward" - since no player can be on the opposing field before the kickoff, that is a fault and can award the other team a free kick. In american football, it is always played directly forward...