UEFA will immediately apply the clarification provided by the International Football Association Board (IFAB), of Rule 14 with respect to the cases of double touch of the ball by the player who launches a penalty, starting with the semifinal of the Nations League on Wednesday (21.00 hours) between Germany and Portugal, according to a statement. “All UEFA matches, starting with the semifinal of the Nations League between Germany and Portugal of June 4, 2025, will now be played under the new interpretation of Rule 14,” the entity said on its website.
After that incident in the eighths of the Champions League in which Julián Alvarez involuntarily touched the ball twice before throwing the penalty, after Julián Alvarez’s ruling and the consequent arbitration decision cost the team of Simeone the classification for the rooms. The European agency then replied that the touch was minimal and that it would open a consultation with FIFA and IFAB on whether the rule should be checked in cases where a double touch was involuntary. And he has done so. The IFAB clarified yesterday that due to a double involuntary touch in a penalty, the launch should be repeated if the ball enters the goal and announced that it would begin to carry out from July.
The entity made it clear that it is an “unusual” situation, so, taking into account that “it is not directly regulated”, it understands that the referees “have understandably opted for sanctioning the pitcher for having played the ball for the second time before another player touched it” with an indirect free kick to the rival team or, in the case of the booths, giving the launch as failed.
However, the IFAB acknowledged that this rule is designed “fundamentally for those situations in which the executor plays the ball for the second time voluntarily before another player touches it”, and not for fortuitous situations, or when the pitcher “hits the ball involuntarily with both feet simultaneously or when the ball touches her foot or the support leg” when slipping. Although, they made it clear that “, since the altered trajectory of the ball can leave the goalkeeper at a disadvantage.”
UEFA has decided to go further and this Wednesday has announced that they will giving the new standard, being tonight between Germany and Portugal in the first semifinal of the Nations League that marks the precedent.
