Former Italian referee Pierluigi Collina believes the penalty kick rule should be changed, not allowing penalty takers to score on the rebound.
“I believe there is an excessive gap between the opportunities available to the attacker and those of the goalkeeper,” Collina told Repubblica.
“On average, 75% of penalties are already scored, and often, the penalty kick is a bigger chance than the one taken away by the foul.
“On top of that, the attacker is also given a chance to play the rebound off the goalkeeper. In my opinion, goalkeepers should be complaining.
“I’ve already mentioned this in discussions we’ve had at IFAB,” continued the former referee.
“One solution is the ‘one shot’ rule. Just like in penalty shootouts after extra time.
“No rebound. Either you score or play resumes with a goal kick, period. This would also eliminate the spectacle we see before a penalty is taken, with everyone crowding around the area. It looks like horses at the starting gates before the Palio di Siena.”
Collina is one of football’s most legendary referees. Officiating from 1988 to 2005, he refereed the 1999 UEFA Champions League final and the 2002 FIFA World Cup final.
Aside from big games in domestic competitions in Italy, other notable games that Collina refereed are the 1996 Olympic Games Final between Nigeria and Argentina, the 2003-04 UEFA Cup Final won by Valencia against Marseille and even a Tunisian Cup Final in 1989-99,
A six-time IFFHS Best Referee award winner, Collina became UEFA’s chief refereeing officer in 2017.
Collina officiated 240 Serie A matches, debuting on December 15, 1991, in Verona vs. Ascoli. His last game was in May 2005, a 3-0 win Fiorentina win over Brescia at the Stadio Franchi.
Born in Bologna in 1960, Collina will turn 65 on February 13.
Football Italia
5 Comments
This makes sense. No rebound goal if the goalkeeper saves the penalty or the ball bounces off the goalpost. Once the ball doesn’t go in that first time and first shot, the penalty is lost.
The Panenka penalty should also be ruled out, and once there are 3 fouls and retakes, the penalty is lost.
Good suggestion from Collina. The one shot rule should be adopted.
I have fond memories of this ref. He administered the 1996 Olympic final with integrity, refusing to be influenced by the theatrical diving and other antics of the wily Argentines. A weaker ref would have succumbed to their shameless cheating and tricks, and Nigeria might have had a much harder game.
His only mistake in that game in my opinion was the penalty awarded to Argentina, after a spectacular Olympic level dive from Ariel Ortega after minimal contact from Taribo West. That was no penalty, not in a million years. But it’s easy to forgive Collina, because the dive was so good, easily a 10 out of 10. Even Roger Milla couldn’t have done it beter.
Besides, we ended up winning the gold medal. Perhaps I would be less inclined to forgive if we had lost, hahaha!
….I agree to the rule. The Panenka is legit and cannot be disallowed… it makes no sense to disallow it as you cannot tell a kicker how to hit the ball. I also believe a penalty taker should not be allowed to break his stride in the run-up to taking the kick.
Your last sentence has always been my wish: a keeper should feign diving already during the paused strides and I believe the ref will tell the player to retake the penalty.
No keeper has ever done that which is astonishing
That makes no sense because it is impossible if you think about it – if a keeper feigns a dive, then he is massively putting himself in a disadvantaged position as his standing foot which is of the utmost importance in diving as you need a base to leverage yourself in either direction for the dive will be affected and by so doing, even if the penalty taker falls for it, they will change the angle they choose and by then it’s too late to reset for the dive and you’re in no mans land and even if they don’t, they just have to delay the kick a little and you would need to reset again for dive and by then it’s too late so again you’ll find yourself in no mans land, so either way, feigning a dive will never work for a keeper.