Corner kick rules, explained

When a corner is given

• The whole ball crosses the goal line, on the ground or in the air, and a defender touched it last, without a goal being scored.
• The goalkeeper controls the ball in their hands or arms for more than eight seconds. The corner is taken from the side nearest where the keeper was.
• New for 2026/27: a team delays its own goal kick. The referee counts down five seconds and, if the goal kick still isn't taken, gives a corner to the other team.

How to take one

• Put the ball in the corner area nearest where it went out. It doesn't have to be fully inside: any part of the ball touching the arc is fine.
• The ball must be still, and kicked by a player of the attacking team.
• It's in play as soon as it's kicked and clearly moves; it doesn't need to leave the corner area, which is how short corners work.
• Don't move the corner flag.
• The taker can't touch the ball again until another player has. Doing so is an indirect free kick to the defenders.
• Defenders must stay 9.15 metres (10 yards) from the corner arc until the ball is in play. Some pitches have small marks off the pitch, beside the goal line and touchline, to show that distance.

Scoring and offside from a corner

You can score straight from a corner kick, but only against the other team: that's an "Olimpico". If somehow it goes straight into the taker's own goal, the other team gets a corner.

There's no offside when you receive the ball straight from a corner kick. Once someone else touches it, offside applies as normal: see the offside rule.

Corners in 5-a-side and friends' games

Plenty of 5-a-side leagues don't have corners at all, because the ball comes back off the boards, and many friends' games use "three corners and it's a penalty" when nobody's in goal. Agree it with the rest of your house rules, and when the arguments are about who's on which side, let the team generator decide.

Questions