Real Madrid controversy prompts law change for FIFA Club World Cup

Ahead of the upcoming 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the United States, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) has clarified that there was no direct regulation for the double touch by Atlético Madrid’s Julián Álvarez in his team’s penalty shootout defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League round of 16. IFAB has now ruled that starting from July 2025 (potentially including the Club World Cup), if such an incident occurs, the penalty must be retaken if it results in a goal.

Real Madrid benefit in Champions League from ‘double touch’ penalty

IFAB, which sets the laws of soccer, explained that referees tend to penalize the player for a double touch, which was not previously directly regulated. Polish referee Szymon Marciniak did exactly that to Álvarez, whose penalty ‘miss’ was crucial in helping Real Madrid eliminate Atlético from the tournament.

However, IFAB also notes that “not penalising an accidental double touch would nevertheless be unfair, as the goalkeeper can be disadvantaged by the altered trajectory of the ball”. This is explained in a circular released on Tuesday.

The IFAB have sought to clarify Rule 10 - Determining the Outcome of a Match and Rule 14 - The Penalty Kick regarding situations where the kicker accidentally strikes the ball with both feet simultaneously or when the ball touches the kicker’s non-kicking foot or leg immediately after the kick. This is what happened with Álvarez’s penalty.

IFAB’s new ‘double touch’ penalty law

“This situation is rare, and as it is not directly covered in Law 14, referees have understandably tended to penalise the kicker for having touched the ball again before it has touched another player, thus awarding an indirect free kick to the opposition or, in the case of penalties (penalty shoot-out), recording the kick as missed,” reads the Circular.

“However, this part of Law 14 is primarily intended for situations where the penalty taker deliberately touches the ball a second time before it has touched another player (e.g. when it rebounds from the goalpost(s) or crossbar without touching the goalkeeper),” the Circular continues. “This is very different from the penalty taker accidentally kicking the ball with both feet simultaneously or touching the ball with their non-kicking foot or leg immediately after they have taken the kick, which usually occurs because they have slipped when taking it”.

IFAB has therefore decided that, starting from July 2025, “if penalty taker accidentally kicks the ball with both feet simultaneously or the ball touches their non-kicking foot or leg immediately after the kick”, the penalty will be retaken if it is scored.

If the penalty is missed, an indirect free-kick will be awarded to the defending team (unless the referee decides to play advantage), while it will be recorded as a miss in a penalty shoot-out.

That will also be the case should the penalty taker be deemed to “deliberately” touch the ball with both feet (which would be highly unusual).

Will the new penalty law be in place at the FIFA Club World Cup?

The new laws are “effective for competitions starting on or after 1 July 2025 and may be used by competitions starting before that date”. With the FIFA Club World Cup running from June 14 to July 13, the change could come into effect for the tournament, which means there would be no repeat of Álvarez’s bizarre penalty and Atlético’s controversial elimination.

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