In short
The answer first
A corner kick is usually awarded when the whole ball crosses the goal line without a goal being scored and a defending player touched it last. Under the current Laws, a corner can also be the sanction for certain delay offences, including a goalkeeper controlling the ball with the hands or arms for more than eight seconds.
Key takeaways
The corner is taken from the corner area nearest the relevant point defined by the Law.
The ball must be stationary and is in play when kicked and clearly moved.
Opponents stay at least 9.15 metres from the corner arc until the ball is in play.
A goal may be scored directly from a corner against the opponents.
Current Laws also use a corner as a sanction for the goalkeeper eight-second handling offence and an expired goal-kick delay countdown.
The standard reason for a corner
The familiar corner occurs when the defending team is the last to touch the ball before the whole ball crosses its own goal line and no goal has been scored. A blocked shot, deflected cross or goalkeeper save can all produce the same restart.
The ball is placed in the nearest corner area specified by the Law. The corner flagpost cannot be moved to create space for the kicker.
Taking the kick
The ball must be stationary. It becomes live when it is kicked and clearly moves, so it does not need to leave the corner area first. Opponents must respect the 9.15-metre distance from the corner arc until that moment.
The kicker cannot touch the ball twice in succession before another player touches it. Short corners are legal because the first touch only needs to kick and clearly move the ball; a team-mate can then receive it immediately.
Can a corner go straight in?
Yes. A goal can be scored directly from a corner kick into the opponents' goal. If the ball somehow travels directly into the kicker's own goal, the opponents receive a corner rather than being awarded a goal.
This makes the corner different from an indirect free kick or throw-in, where a direct goal without the required intervening touch is not allowed.
Why some corners now come from delay offences
Current Law 12 awards a corner if a goalkeeper inside their own penalty area controls the ball with the hands or arms for more than eight seconds before releasing it. The referee visually counts down the final five seconds. The 2026/27 goal-kick delay protocol can also turn an expired countdown into a corner for the opponents.
Those restarts can look unusual because the ball did not cross the goal line. The referee is applying a specific sanction in the current Laws rather than the traditional last-touch route to a corner.
Source check
Sources and further reading
KickVerse uses primary governing-body material where a rule or competition format has an official source. Analysis terms can vary between data providers, so provider-specific definitions are identified rather than presented as universal laws.
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