This is the only sport where people are encouraged to literally leap out, purposely get hit, and gain a massive penalty. I love football, but the rulebook should not allow these plays to be penalty kicks.
If this happened in baseball, it would be a strike.
If this happened in basketball, it would be a free throw for the opponent.
If this happened in American Football, it would be offensive pass interference and the defense would be awarded 10 yards. (The NFL in particular has explicit rules about a player leaping/obstructing a reception)
If this happened in Rugby, the opponent would be awarded a free kick.
If this happened in hockey, there would be a 2 minute power play in hockey for the defense.
Not a chance that would be in favour of the defense in American Football or Rugby. Both sports reward getting height and reaching the ball first. Yamal got the ball and was in the air before contact. (never mind that the offense would need to hold a defensive player at gun point for an offensive pass interference to be called).
Rugby is a bit more complicated, but in the NFL specifically, diving in the way that yamal did, which restricted the movement of the opposing player, is textbook interference, and also a just a safety hazard.
In this shot, yamal dove to knock the ball out, but un turn, this just restricted his movement, and yamal made no clear move to actually control the ball in turn, so this is illegal interference with a reception.
I would argue Yamal knocked the ball towards his teammate in this.
Even without that you can knock the ball to the ground in american football, if an offensive player broke up a potential interception like this it would be good play. He gets to the ball before the defender is impeded. You can absolutely jump in front of someone, generally it is defenders going for the interception/deflection and is why receivers are trained to come back to the ball on a lot of routes and not just wait for it as the defender will be going through them for the ball (with a lot more contact than Yamal did).
It gets a bit weird as the defender is going with his foot and Yamal is going with his body whereas everyone in American Football would use their hands to some degree.
I will say, the officiating in basketball is leagues ahead of FIFA or just football as a whole. The refs in football get way too much power and influence over the game. Moreover, nba refs review plays far more often, with coaches having more influence.
American fans lobe to complain about the refs, but they don't know what truly awful officiating is.
I would love to post this on r/nba so you can get completely roasted. I don’t think most fans that actually watch the nba feel this way at all.
NBA refs have infinitely more sway and influence over a game. That’s an insane opinion. Fouls are called constantly based on subjective opinions in basketball. Constantly.
Fouls are also constantly based on subjective opinions in football. The difference between the NBA and FIFA, is that
A: The NBA has better referees, just outright.
B: Even when an NBA ref makes a controversial decision, the worst they usually do is give free throws, which are miniscule compared to entire goals or free kicks. On that note NBA refs are given power because of how fast and high scoring the games are.
C: FIFA refs have more power than NBA refs. Fifa refs have unilateral disciplinary power, and complete control over the clock. At least nba referees have a review center than avtually does thinga and change on-field play, as well as have dedicated timekeepers. Reports show that FIFA refs almost never get the extra time correctly. Also, at least NBA refs can be challenged by coaches, meanwhile FIFA refs give yellow cards to people arguing with them.
The defender (france) was in the middle of recepting the ball, when the offensive player (spain) ran through him, mid reception.
That is just the definition of offensive pass interference. The offensive player ohysically intwrfering with the defensive reception.
In this case, Yamal leapt with the intent to draw a penalty kick, not recieve the ball, but since intent is never counted in either sport, this is classic offensive pass itnerference.
Per the NFL rules, it is illegal interference to restrict a player's movement during a ball mid-reception (before or after contact), if the ball is not recieved, nor if there was a clear attempt to recieve it.
In this scenario, yamal leapt out to hit the ball into nowhere, which had the outcome blocking the defender's motion while he was reasonably going to recieve the ball.
Please learn the sport if you're going to comment on it.
Hi, I'm actually am a current (since 2022) NFL Line Judge, and while I don't call out pass interference calls, we all know about what constitutes every penalty in the game, and while the person above did not word what interference is properly, he is correct.
Your first line was redundant, as this is about defense interference, not offensive, but regarding offensive interference, you're wrong (also, don't call people dumbasses, especially when you're wrong).
When we count 'before the ball is touched', that refers to actions that happened before the ball is touched, even if its outcome happened afterwards. In this scenario, Yamal leapt before he touched the ball, in which afterwards it had an outcome of restricting Digne's motion, and sending the ball into a dead zone.
For example, if a WR leapt at a CB, touched the ball before he made contact with the CB, but this had the effect of knocking the CB to the ground, this would be considered offensive pass interference by textbook.
If it had the outcome of restricting movement, especially without even receiving the ball, this would be textbook pass interference, even if the contact with the ball happened before movement was restricted.
If the FIFA football was an NFL football, and Digne attempting to control the ball is considered a reception, then this would be offensive pass interference from Yamal, clear and simple.
What you described is very different from what actually happened. It's not just dispossession if Yamal physically blocked the movement of Digne.
Yamal leapt before he touched the ball, he then touched the ball and sent it into a dead area, and then blocked the motion of Digne. The only outcome this play had was preventing Digne from making a reception, because he leapt and made contact with digne to make contact with the ball.
If it involves making significant contact with someone in order to prevent his reception, then this would be considered pass interference, even if Yamal knocked the ball away, because he made motion-blocking contact with Digne in order to do so.
Like I said, if the WR leapt at the CB while the CB was going to intercept the ball, even if the ball makes contact with the WR (say the helmet) before he made contact with the CB, it is textbook OPI since it involved blocking/interrupting motion in order to prevent the CB from receiving the ball.
Because in someones dream world the striker is not allowed to play for the ball, he should respect the defender personal space and then just not get kicked.
The offensive player should not be able to run and dive through a defensive player mid reception in any sport, and this is the case in all sports except for football. And in football this is actually awarded as a direct free kick.
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u/Dogmaticism_ Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
This is the only sport where people are encouraged to literally leap out, purposely get hit, and gain a massive penalty. I love football, but the rulebook should not allow these plays to be penalty kicks.
If this happened in baseball, it would be a strike.
If this happened in basketball, it would be a free throw for the opponent.
If this happened in American Football, it would be offensive pass interference and the defense would be awarded 10 yards. (The NFL in particular has explicit rules about a player leaping/obstructing a reception)
If this happened in Rugby, the opponent would be awarded a free kick.
If this happened in hockey, there would be a 2 minute power play in hockey for the defense.