Corner Kick
A football (soccer) restart taken from the corner arc after the defending team last touched the ball over its own goal line.
Definition
A corner kick is awarded when the ball wholly crosses the goal line outside the goal, having last been touched by a defender. The attacking team places the ball inside the corner arc nearest to where it went out and kicks it back into play, and a goal may be scored directly from a corner.
Corners are valuable attacking set-piece opportunities, often delivered into the penalty area for headers or knock-downs, and teams rehearse specific routines for them. Field hockey has related restarts — the penalty corner and long corner — but these operate under their own distinct rules and should not be confused with the soccer corner.
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Positions
Rules
- Direct and indirect free kicksThe two types of free kick awarded in football to restart play after a foul or other stoppage.
- Backcourt violationA basketball rule breach for returning the ball into a team's own defensive half after it has crossed into the attacking half.
- Penalty kick awardA one-on-one kick against the goalkeeper awarded when a defending player commits a direct-free-kick foul inside their own penalty area.
- Throw-inThe method of restarting football when the ball fully crosses a side line, taken by throwing it back into play.
- OffsideA rule that prevents an attacker from gaining an advantage by being positioned too close to the opponents' goal ahead of the ball and the last defenders.
Tactics
- Set-piece playRehearsed routines from a dead-ball situation such as a corner, free kick or throw-in used to create chances.
- Rugby union set-piece strategyWhy the scrum and lineout are attacking platforms rather than restarts — how a set piece fixes defenders in known positions, and what a team is buying when it chooses one over a kick.
- High pressA football tactic where a team hunts the ball high up the pitch to win it back close to the opponent’s goal.
- Territory versus possessionRugby union's central strategic trade — when to keep the ball and when to kick it away — and why the 22-metre line makes field position worth more than possession in some parts of the field.
Scoring systems
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- 2026-09-01
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