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So during a soccer game I refereed, a kid took a goal kick and somehow managed to kick the ball out of bounds before it left the box, like in my beautiful diagram below. Would this be a redo of the goal kick, because it never left the box, or would this be considered going out of bounds, and would be a corner kick?

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This is a retake. The ball was never put back into play.


Law 16 - The Goal Kick, Section 1 - Procedure:

  • The ball is in play when it leaves the penalty area

Law 9 - The Ball In and Out of Play, Section 1 - Ball Out of Play:

The ball is out of play when:

  • it has wholly passed over the goal line or touchline on the ground or in the air.

The contradiction between Law 9 and Law 16 is resolved by reading the provision in Law 16 as:

the ball is out of play until it leaves the penalty area

which despite not being logically equivalent to the original text, is the only possible interpretation that doesn't lead to absurdities e.g. considering the ball as in play yet having wholly passed over the goal line.

Take your pick out of the following two clauses as to which is applicable here (they provide for the same result). The first is I believe what the lawmakers would intend to have apply to this situation, but once again, the wording isn't a perfect match

Law 16 - The Goal Kick, Section 2 - Offences and Sanctions:

If the ball does not leave the penalty area or is touched by a player before it leaves the penalty area the kick is retaken.

...

For any other offence the kick is retaken.

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