The goalkeeper catches a shot inside their penalty area, puts the ball on the ground, and dribbles it with the feet outside the penalty area. An opponent then sprints towards the ball, and the goalkeeper dribbles the ball back into the penalty area and picks it up. What is the correct decision?

THE DECISION

The referee awards an indirect free kick to the attacking team because the goalkeeper cannot touch the ball with the hand/arm after releasing it from the hand(s) and before it has touched another player. As the handball offence occurred inside their penalty area, the goalkeeper is not cautioned (yellow card) for stopping a promising attack or sent off (red card) for denying the opponent an obvious goal-scoring opportunity.