Corner Kick - Own Goal Anomalies

Own Goal Anomalies

According to the laws of the game, if a player puts the ball into their own goal directly from a restart of play (e.g. free kicks, corner kicks, goal kicks etc.) without the ball being touched by any other player, a corner kick is awarded to the other team and not an "own goal" which it would appear to be. Such incidents are extremely rare.

A mistake relating to that rule appeared to be committed by referee David Elleray during a Premier League derby match between Birmingham City and Aston Villa during the 2002/03 season. Aston Villa defender Olof Mellberg threw the ball towards his goalkeeper (Peter Enckelman), who seemed to miss the ball completely and the ball went into the net. Elleray gave a goal to Birmingham even though it appeared that Enckelman may not have touched the ball - television replays were inconclusive. If Elleray had determined that Enckelman had not touched the ball, he should have awarded a corner kick to Birmingham.