Handball?!?

If a footballer brings his arms in front of his chest to protect himself from the ball being struck into him and the ball hits his arms/hands, is this considered as handball in the professional footballing leagues?|||It depends entirely on the referee's enterpretation, but usually, yes.





The law says that intentional handball ("hand to ball") is a foul, however, accidental handball ("ball to hand") is not. Therefore, the referee would need to judge the intention of the player.





Sometimes, a ball is kicked so hard and with such force that a player can't move his arms out of the way in time - they're not usually fouls.





In the scenario you've descibed, the chances are it would be a foul, because the player had intentionally moved his hands and changed the flight of the ball. There is precedent to this: Stuart Pearce against Switzerland in the Euro 96 Championship put his hands in front of his face to protect it from the ball - this was deemed a foul and the referee gave a penalty (because it was in the area).





It's a contentious area of football, but it will always boil down to the referee's interpretation of the intent.





I hope that helps.|||It is up to the referee to decide. The rule basically used is did the ball hit hand or did the hand hit ball? But referees are human and would not all agree, so there is an element of chance involved in such an occurence.|||If you deliberately move your hand towards the flight of the ball, for whatever reason, it is likely to be given as handball.|||I don't think we see enough hand-balls in the modern game myself. I would rather see a slight intervention from the opposition, than a mis-timed bone crunching tackle.|||If the ball hits your hand whilst you are scratching your chest then no, if you raise your hand to deflect the ball elsewhere then yes. If you are standing with your arms at your side and the ball hits them no.





In other words it has to be a deliberate handball or a case where you gained an advantage by the ball hitting your hand/arm. Common sense should normally prevail.|||Well,tough call,it's up to the ref.If he counts it as handball,then he's probably thinking why the player didn't chest the ball.If he dosen't give it,then he's thinking the player's instincts kicked in,it can't be helped.There's one example when Man Utd played Boro at the Riverside in the FA Cup,Ronaldo kicked the ball and it was going to the top of Boateng's head,he raised both his arms to deflect the shot and the ref gave a penalty.I knew that was handball but I was thinking if he did that to protect his head.|||It depends on how the referee deems it;


Hand to ball - The ball was blocked by the player intentionally.


Ball to hand - The player could not avoid being struck by the ball.


Players don`t tend to protect their chests,usually just their groin area.