Did you know that it's possible to be given a free-kick inside the penalty box? Just eight indirect free-kicks inside the 18-yard box have been awarded in the Premier League over the past decade, with the most recent coming for Wolves against Ipswich last Saturday. Here, football writer Alex Keble explains this rare set-piece.
There’s something about the award of an indirect free-kick that brings out a childlike joy in all of us.
It’s a sight so rare we still get a little giddy when we see it: the ball sat dead on the edge of the six-yard box with a halo of green turf around it, 11 opposition players crammed onto the goalline, and attackers lining up for a set-piece so rare they have no idea how to execute it.
So, when in the 36th minute of Ipswich Town versus Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, Alex Palmer clawed the ball off the line with his hands, half-atoning for the error of letting Dara O’Shea’s backpass roll past him, we got excited an indirect free-kick was awarded.
Wolves, taking only the eighth indirect free-kick from inside the penalty area in the last 10 years of Premier League football, can be forgiven for going with the simplest option: inviting centre-back Emmanuel Agbadou to blast the ball as hard as he could after it was gently rolled to the side.
So, what exactly is an indirect free-kick? What are the rules around them? Here, we explain everything you need to know about the indirect free-kick and look back on its history in the Premier League.
What is an indirect free-kick?
Put simply, an indirect free-kick is a set-piece from which a player is not allowed to shoot directly. Although they can occur all over the pitch, the only ones we really notice are inside the 18-yard box.
These are taken from where the offence took place, unless it was committed inside the six-yard box, in which case the kick is taken from the nearest point on the "goal area line" (i.e. the edge of the six-yard box).
Opposition players must always be at least 10 yards away from the ball at a free-kick, so when the above scenario happens, a 10-yard gap to the wall is impossible. Therefore, defenders must stand on the goalline until the ball is rolled to the shooter. Remember, the ball must be touched before it is shot, because it is an indirect free-kick.
When is an indirect free-kick awarded?
An indirect free-kick is awarded for a variety of offences, including for play in a “dangerous manner”, for verbal offences, and for preventing the goalkeeper from releasing the ball.
But the most common one that leads to an indirect free-kick inside the area, rather than a penalty, is contravening the backpass law; the goalkeeper using their hands to control a deliberate pass from the foot of a team-mate.
That’s what happened at Ipswich, when Palmer used his hands to stop an O’Shea pass heading into the goal.
There is an exemption in the backpass law, by the way: it does not count as a handball preventing a goal, and therefore is not a red-card offence.
IFAB Laws of the Game 2024/25
An indirect free-kick is awarded if a player:
- plays in a dangerous manner
- impedes the progress of an opponent without any contact being made
- is guilty of dissent, using offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or action(s) or other verbal offences
- prevents the goalkeeper from releasing the ball from the hands or kicks or attempts to kick the ball when the goalkeeper is in the process of releasing it
- initiates a deliberate trick for the ball to be passed (including from a free-kick or goal-kick) to the goalkeeper with the head, chest, knee etc. to circumvent the Law, whether or not the goalkeeper touches the ball with the hands; the goalkeeper is penalised if responsible for initiating the deliberate trick
- commits any other offence, not mentioned in the Laws, for which play is stopped to caution or send off a player
An indirect free-kick is awarded if a goalkeeper, inside their penalty area, commits any of the following offences:
- controls the ball with the hand/arm for more than six seconds before releasing it
- touches the ball with the hand/arm after releasing it and before it has touched another player
- touches the ball with the hand/arm, unless the goalkeeper has clearly kicked or attempted to kick the ball to release it into play, after: it has been deliberately kicked to the goalkeeper by a team-mate; or receiving it directly from a throw-in taken by a team-mate
How often do indirect free-kicks result in a goal?
In the Premier League at least, they don’t go in very often.
Since Opta began recording such data in 2015/16, there have been just eight instances of an indirect free-kick being awarded inside the box – and zero goals. One didn’t even end up in a shot!
Indirect free-kicks since 2015/16
| *Match | Season | Followed by goal | Followed by shot | Total shots |
| ARS 2-0 SUN | 2017/18 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| LIV 0-0 MUN | 2018/19 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| MCI 2-1 SOU | 2019/20 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| MCI 1-0 BHA | 2020/21 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| CHE 2-1 CRY | 2022/23 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| BRE 3-3 BHA | 2022/23 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| CHE 3-0 AVL | 2024/25 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| IPS 1-2 WOL | 2024/25 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
*Team in bold had the indirect free-kick
Who HAS scored an indirect free-kick goal in the Premier League?
There have been a few indirect free-kick goals in Premier League history.
Cristiano Ronaldo for Manchester United, Fabio Aurelio for Liverpool, Davor Suker for Arsenal, Thomas Gravesen for Everton and Kevin Doyle for Wolves are among the Premier League players to have smashed the ball home after a tap from a team-mate.
But the specialist is Alan Shearer, scorer of THREE indirect free-kick goals in the Premier League, as well as one for England.
Shearer tells us his trick to scoring three indirect free-kicks
We asked the Premier League's record goalscorer, and he emphasised the need to “shift the wall”.
“It’s not rocket science to try and move the wall before you hit the ball,” Shearer told the Premier League.
“Fake passes a couple of times, then move it, and then hit it!”
For both of Shearer’s Newcastle United strikes, Nolberto Solano faked the pass, shuffling the defenders off the line and back again, thus ensuring they were on their heels when the ball was eventually rolled to the No 9.
Shearer also angled the ball to the side to get a clearer shot into the corner.
How else could you score an indirect free-kick?
But that isn’t necessarily the only way to score one.
Analysing some of the best strikes from around the world, a few other ideas emerge.
Wolves’ issue was rolling it such a short distance that the defenders could easily charge it down, so why not fake for a short pass but actually go longer, either right across the goal or even backwards by five yards?
This would trick the defenders and force them to change direction, as well as give the striker time to actually pick a spot.
It could also help if the attacking team fashioned their own wall directly in front of the ball, acting as blockers to those charging out, but also hiding how far the ball is pushed to one side by the initial taker.
Returning to Shearer’s point on “fake passes”, maybe Wolves could have made it less clear who was going to set up Agbadou: you could have four or five players run over the ball before one of them rolls it into play.
The smartest one we found was David Beckham’s for England against Austria in a 2004 FIFA World Cup qualifier.
Beckham feigned to go short, only to pass the ball to an unmarked Frank Lampard to tap it into an empty net.
