Goal kick

If the last player to touch the ball was a member of the defending side, a corner kick is instead awarded to the attackers.

If this happens a number of times, the opposing player is booked for persistent infringement of the Laws of the Game.

[4] If the kicker touches the ball a second time before it has been touched by another player, an indirect free kick is awarded to the opposing team from the place where the offence occurred, unless the second touch was also a more serious handling offence, which is punished by a direct free kick (or a penalty kick if within the penalty area and the kicker was not the goalkeeper) for the opposing team.

[9] Published laws of the Eton field game (1857) and Harrow football (1858), meanwhile, provided for a defensive kick-off from the goal-line itself whenever the ball went behind the goal without the attacking team scoring.

The opposing side shall stand behind their goal line until he has had his kick.There are several differences between this "free kick from the goal line" and the modern goal-kick: It was not possible for a player to be offside from such a kick, a feature of the laws that has remained constant to the present day.

[14] One problem with these early rules was mentioned at the 1867 FA meeting:[15] Where one side was very much weaker than the other, a very great deal of time was wasted by players intentionally letting the ball go behind their own goal-line (in some instances kicking it there themselves) particularly in playing against time.This state of affairs lasted until 1872, when the corner-kick law was introduced from Sheffield rules football.

The phrase "goal kick" is recorded in general usage as early as 1867,[18] but does not appear in the laws of the game until 1890.

The goalkeeper was also explicitly forbidden from "receiv[ing] the ball into his hands from a goal-kick in order that he may thereafter kick it into play".

[19] In 1997, the laws were amended to allow a goal to be scored directly from a goal-kick, but only against the opposing team.

[24][33][34] The first goalkeeper to score directly from a goal kick in a professional match was Pat Jennings, for Spurs against Man Utd, on 12 August 1967.

[19] In 1890, an indirect free-kick was awarded to the opposition when the player taking the goal kick touched the ball twice.