Goal Clearance, Corner Kick and Other Restarts

A goal clearance is awarded when the whole ball crosses the goal line, having last touched a player of the attacking team.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.1 · recall

A goal clearance is taken by the goalkeeper throwing the ball, from any point inside his own penalty area.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.2 · recall

The Law requires a goal clearance to be thrown by the goalkeeper, not kicked or rolled.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.2 · applied

The goalkeeper must take the goal clearance within four seconds of being ready to do so.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.3 · recall

Holding onto the throw past the limit hands the restart itself over to the other side.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.3 · applied

The goalkeeper's own area is the exclusion zone here, not a flat metre figure like most other restarts.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.4 · recall

The goal clearance rule requires opponents to be outside the penalty area, with no separate distance figure attached beyond that.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.4 · applied

A goal may not be scored directly from a goal clearance.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.5 · recall

However far or clean the throw, a goal clearance cannot produce a goal directly.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.5 · applied

The goal clearance is thrown by the goalkeeper; the corner kick, like the kick-in and the free kick, is kicked.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16 & 17 (contrast) · recall

A goal clearance not thrown clear of the penalty area is retaken, and the four-second count does not reset.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.6 · recall

The four-second count is not reset by a retake for landing short of the penalty area; it simply continues.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.6 · applied

A deliberate second handling by the goalkeeper is judged under the ordinary handball rules, so its location on the court decides direct or indirect.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.6 & Law 12 (synthesis) · recall

Handling the ball again inside his own penalty area, before another player touches it, is an indirect free kick offence for the goalkeeper.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.6 · applied

Once he's chasing his own throw beyond that line, he's just another outfield player with respect to his hands.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.6 & Law 12.1 (synthesis) · applied

A goal clearance is retaken if attacking players are inside the penalty area during it.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.7 · recall

The presence of an attacking player inside the penalty area during a goal clearance forces a retake, whatever the throw's own quality.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.7 · applied

Only the goalkeeper's second handling varies between a direct and an indirect free kick depending on where it happens; the other two infringements each have one fixed consequence.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.6-16.7 (synthesis) · recall

A goal clearance retaken for not clearing the penalty area never resets the four-second count, no matter how many times it happens.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.6 · applied

Every one of Law 16's infringements, whether an unclear throw, a second handling, or attackers inside the area, is about the restart's own fairness and procedure.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16 (purpose, synthesis) · recall

A corner kick is awarded when the whole ball crosses the goal line, last touched by a defender, without a goal being scored.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 17.1 · recall

A corner kick is taken from inside the corner arc nearest to the point where the ball crossed the goal line.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 17.2 · recall

Unlike a kick-in or a goal clearance, a goal may be scored directly from a corner kick.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 17.3 · applied

Defending players must stay at least 5 m from the corner arc until the ball is in play.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 17.4 · recall

The 5 m distance for a corner kick applies to defending opponents, and two metres falls well inside that minimum.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 17.4 · applied

The corner kick's own clock runs to the same four-second figure the rest of this level has used throughout.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 17.5 · recall

A mere touch or nudge doesn't start the restart; the ball has to actually be struck and travel.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 17.5 · applied

The nearest corner arc gives the kicker room close to wherever the ball actually crossed the goal line, rather than one rigidly fixed spot.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 17.2 (purpose) · applied

Each corner kick is taken from whichever arc is nearest to where the ball crossed the line that particular time, not from one fixed arc.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 17.2 · applied

Like the sixth-foul free kick, a corner kick is a direct restart that can produce a goal on its own, without needing a second touch.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13.4 & 17.3 (contrast) · recall

Encroachment inside the required distance at a corner kick leads to a retake, with the encroaching player cautioned.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 17.6 · recall

Deliberately distracting or impeding an opponent at a restart is treated as unsporting behaviour and cautioned, separate from physically encroaching.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 17.6 · applied

A corner's own overrun is one of the few that breaks the general "overrun equals indirect free kick" pattern.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 17.6 · recall

Unlike the kick-in, free kick, or goal clearance, a corner kick's own four-second overrun specifically produces a goal clearance for the opponents.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 17.6 (contrast) · applied

A corner kick's second-touch rule mirrors the kick-in's own: a free kick to the opponents, escalating to a direct one and an accumulated foul if the ball is deliberately handled.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 17.7 · recall

Striking the ceiling puts the ball out of play, restarting with a kick-in to the opponents of the side that last touched it, from the nearest touchline point.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 9 (ceiling contact) · recall

A dropped ball inside the penalty area is taken not at the exact spot, but on the penalty area line nearest to where play stopped.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 8 (dropped ball) · applied

The line-based adjustment only kicks in for a stoppage inside a penalty area; elsewhere the default rule governs.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 8 (dropped ball) · recall

A dropped ball is in play as soon as it touches the ground, with no separate touch or time requirement attached.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 8 (dropped ball) · applied

A dropped ball is decided purely by where play stopped, with no last-touch question involved; a corner kick depends specifically on a defender having last touched the ball.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 8 & 17.1 (contrast) · recall

Of these three restarts, only the corner kick can produce a goal scored directly; both the kick-in and the goal clearance cannot.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 15.4, 16.5 & 17.3 (synthesis) · recall

Only the goal clearance lets the taker choose any point inside a whole area, his own penalty area; the corner kick is confined to a small arc, and a dropped ball is fixed by where play stopped.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 8, 16.2 & 17.2 (synthesis) · recall

A throw is the goalkeeper's own method here; every other restart studied puts the ball back in play off someone's boot.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.2 & 17 (contrast) · recall

A goal clearance's rule is "outside the penalty area," a larger exclusion at most points on the court than a flat 5 m figure, not the same rule as the others.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.4 (contrast with 15.3 & 17.4) · applied

The goal clearance and the corner kick both share the same underlying second-touch pattern as the kick-in: an ordinary second touch is a free kick, deliberate handling escalates further.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 15.5, 16.6 & 17.7 (synthesis) · recall

A ceiling-contact kick-in is taken from the touchline point nearest to the spot on the ground directly below where the ball struck the ceiling.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 9 (ceiling contact) · applied

A goal clearance is specifically the goalkeeper's own restart to take; a corner kick, unlike that, may be taken by any attacking player.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.2 & 17 (contrast) · recall

However well either restart is struck, only a corner kick can produce a goal directly; a goal clearance never can.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 16.5 & 17.3 (synthesis) · applied

The penalty-area line is only a special-case adjustment for a dropped ball stopped inside the area, whereas a goal clearance is normally taken from inside the area by design.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 8 & 16.2 (contrast) · recall

The goal clearance, the corner kick and the kick-in all carry a four-second limit; the dropped ball, in play the instant it touches the ground, carries no such limit.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 8, 15.3, 16.3 & 17.5 (synthesis) · recall