The penalty area (colloquially also known as the 18-yard box, penalty box or simply the box), is an area of an association football pitch. It is rectangular and extends 16.5 metres (54 ft) to each side of the goal and 16.5 metres (54 ft) in front of it. Within the penalty area is the penalty spot (or penalty mark), which is 11 metres (36 ft) from the goal line, directly in-line with the centre of the goal. A penalty arc adjoins the penalty area, and encloses the area within 9.15 metres (30.0 ft) from the penalty spot; it does not form part of the penalty area and is only of relevance during the taking of a penalty kick.
Previously, penalty areas extended the width of the field, but were reduced to their current dimensions in 1901.
Read more about Penalty Area: Functions
Famous quotes containing the words penalty and/or area:
“No: until I want the protection of Massachusetts to be extended to me in some distant Southern port, where my liberty is endangered, or until I am bent solely on building up an estate at home by peaceful enterprise, I can afford to refuse allegiance to Massachusetts, and her right to my property and life. It costs me less in every sense to incur the penalty of disobedience to the State than it would to obey. I should feel as if I were worth less in that case.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Many women are reluctant to allow men to enter their domain. They don’t want men to acquire skills in what has traditionally been their area of competence and one of their main sources of self-esteem. So while they complain about the male’s unwillingness to share in domestic duties, they continually push the male out when he moves too confidently into what has previously been their exclusive world.”
—Bettina Arndt (20th century)