Penalty area also known as a penalty box.

Everyone who has watched a football match, at least once, is considered to have basic knowledge of the penalty area. However, do you know its exact dimensions? Do you realize how it differs from the goal area? Have you ever wondered what the semicircle in front of it is? If you are not exactly sure of the answers here is a summary of some of the basics.

The penalty area is a special place in each square of the football pitch. This is the part of ​​the field that attracts the viewer’s attention. Although the goal may still be scored, after a shot taken from the outside of the box, the moment when the players of the attacking team enter the penalty area with a ball gives the fans a more lively heartbeat.
And no wonder – the lines that limit the dimensions of the penalty area also introduce players to a slightly different world.

The penalty area, is the space which is the closest to the goal net and is within the possession of the goalkeeper. Only inside this special space, limited with the set of lines, the defender of the goal is allowed to touch the ball with his hand (provided that his teammate has not passed it on to him with his foot) and here he is under special protection. The attacks on his body cause an immediate offense.

However, not only the attackers but also the defenders must be on guard – if they make a foul against the opposing player in the penalty area, a penalty kick will be awarded subsequently. Similarly, if any player, other than the goalkeeper, stops the ball with his hand the penalty kick is awarded. An eleven-yard shot is the player’s most comfortable goal.

Dimensions of penalty area

As with the entire football field, the penalty area has fixed dimensions. It is a rectangle 16.5 m long and 40.32 m wide. The width consists of two lines, 16.5 m of posts and 7.32 m of a goal line. As 16.5 meters is equivalent to 18 yards in the Anglo-Saxon measuring system, it is not uncommon in British football to define a penalty area as an 18-yard box. In addition, the point where the aforementioned penalties are taken is 11 m (12 yards) from the goal line. They are also related to the semicircle in front of the penalty area, which is a part of a circle with a radius of 9.15 m (10 yards). That limits the space where the player, who attempts a penalty kick, may only be.

There are football fans who equate the penalty area with the goal area. In the meantime, this is a completely different term used to define the rectangle closest to the goal in the penalty area. The goal area is 5.50 m long and 18.32 m wide, and it also plays an important role in both direct and indirect shots for both teams.

After the attacking team has hit the ball across the court line, the goalkeeper may place the ball anywhere in the goal area to make a goal kick. Moreover, indirect penalties are taken from the goal line, that is, those after which the ball must be passed at least once before being rolled into the goal.

Although football, or actually soccer, is considered to be a British game (as The English Football Association is recognized to have established the governing rules) it was the Irishman, William McCrum, who has invented a penalty kick, making a slight suggestion to The Irish Football Association in 1890.

Officially, the first penalty shoot was awarded in 1891.

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