What happens if there are two balls on the pitch, the ball bursts, or an object deflects it into the goal?
If a second ball, object or animal comes onto the field and interferes with play, the referee stops the game and restarts with a dropped ball. The same happens if the match ball bursts. If an outside object deflects the ball into the net, the goal does not count and play restarts with a dropped ball.
- 1If an extra ball, other object or animal enters the field and interferes with play, the referee stops the match and restarts with a dropped ball[1]
- 2If the ball bursts or goes flat during play (not while a penalty is in flight), play is stopped and restarted with a dropped ball at the spot where it failed[1]
- 3If an outside agent touches the ball and it goes in, the goal is disallowed and play restarts with a dropped ball[2]
- 4A dropped ball that goes directly into a goal without touching at least two players results in a goal kick (opponents' goal) or a corner (own goal), not a goal[2]
Soccer has tidy answers for the freak moments — a stray beach ball, a popped ball, a pitch invader's dog — and almost all of them end the same way.
What if a second ball comes onto the pitch?
The referee only stops play if the extra ball, object or animal actually interferes with the game. If it does, the match is halted and restarted with a dropped ball. If a stray ball rolls harmlessly along the touchline without affecting anything, play simply continues.
What happens if the match ball bursts?
Play is stopped immediately. The game restarts with a dropped ball at the spot where the ball burst or went flat — unless it happened during a penalty kick or shootout before the ball touched another player, in which case the penalty is retaken.
What if an outside object deflects the ball into the goal?
The goal should not count. An "outside agent" — a spectator, a thrown object, a balloon, an animal — is not part of the game, so if it touches the ball on its way in, the referee should disallow the goal and restart with a dropped ball. The infamous example came in 2009, when a fan's beach ball deflected a Sunderland shot past the Liverpool keeper: by the laws it should have been disallowed, but the referee wrongly let it stand.
What exactly is a dropped ball?
It's soccer's neutral restart. The referee drops the ball for one player of the team that last touched it (or the defending goalkeeper if it happened in their penalty area), and everyone else must stay at least 4 metres away until it hits the ground.
A dropped ball is soccer's version of a re-do after an interrupted play — closer to a "no play" or a held-ball jump-ball reset than a scoring chance. And the outside-agent rule mirrors fan-interference calls in MLB: if something outside the game touches the ball, officials nullify the outcome and restart from a neutral point, rather than letting an accident decide the result.
Key Takeaways
- A second ball, a pitch invader, a burst ball, or an outside object touching the ball all stop play and restart with a dropped ball.
- A goal scored off an outside agent never counts — the deflection cancels it.
- IFAB — Law 9: The Ball In and Out of Play(accessed 2026-06-17)
- IFAB — Law 8: The Start and Restart of Play (dropped ball)(accessed 2026-06-17)
- BBC Sport — Darren Bent's beach ball goal, 10 years on(accessed 2026-06-17)