A defender takes a free kick and passes the ball to the goalkeeper. The goalkeeper touches the ball with the foot outside their penalty area and notices that an attacker is running quickly towards the ball, so the goalkeeper dribbles into the penalty area and then picks the ball up. What is the correct decision?

Question

Accepted Answer

The referee awards an indirect free kick to the attacking team at the point where the goalkeeper handled the ball. As the handball offence occurred inside their penalty area, the goalkeeper cannot be cautioned (yellow card) for stopping a promising attack or sent off (red card) for denying the opponent an obvious goal-scoring opportunity.