The Soccer Football Corner Kick.
26th May 2011

A corner kick is used to restart play after the ball has gone over the goal line, and was last touched by a defending player.

The kick is taken from the corner closest to where the ball went out of play. The referee indicates which side the corner is taken from by pointing his arm in the direction of the corner. If the ball goes out of play in the middle of the goal, over the cross bar, the referee will decide the corner the kick should be taken from.

The procedure for taking a corner kick is quite straight forward.

• The ball must be within or touching the line of the corner arc.

• The corner is taken when the player touches the ball and it moves.

• The kicker cannot touch the ball again until it has touched another player. This means that if the ball hits the goal post and bounces back to the kicker, he/she cannot touch it. This applies equally if the ball bounces back off of the referee.

• A player cannot be offside when a corner kick is taken.

• Defenders must be at least 10 yards away from the ball, 5 yards in mini-soccer.

• You can score directly from a corner kick; the ball doesn't need to touch another player first.

• You cannot score an own goal directly from a corner kick.

The procedure may be simple in the laws of the game, though the taking of a corner can vary.

Normally the ball is kicked and floats somewhere in the penalty area, ideally close to the penalty mark. Putting the ball in that position is ideal, because it not only allows an attacker the run onto it, but also keeps the ball far enough away from the goal-keeper.

When watching the Premier League you will notice that the ball is often cut out by the first defender. This is because the kicker is attempting to keep the ball as low as possible, head height hopefully, and with a lot of pace. Hitting a ball in like this allows the attacking team to head the ball towards goal at pace and needing only to glance the ball toward goal.

The trouble with taking corners in junior football is that the players are not always able to kick the ball as far as the goal, and they are often not very accurate with their kick. Because of this inconsistency the attacking team should always have a player at the near post, ready to give the ball back to the kicker or turn it towards goal.

A good option for the Junior team is to take a short corner to a team mate within 10 or 5 yards of the ball. The receiving player can have a slightly different angle and be closer to deliver a more accurate ball into the penalty area.

Further Reading:

• How to become a Referee?

• Laws of the game - Myths

• The Laws of Mini-Soccer

• Who'd be a Football Ref?