The match between the Italian national team and its Turkish counterpart, which ended with the Azzurri winning 3-0, witnessed the opening of the European Championship (Euro 2022) for football;

A clear handball from the Turkish defender inside his penalty area, the referee did not consider a penalty kick, despite the screaming of the Italian players around him.

In the 20th minute, while the score was 0, the Italian striker Shiro Immobile shot the ball towards Turkey's goal, but it hit the defender's arm while he was inside his penalty area very clearly.

Did the referee deny Italy a penalty kick? # Euro 2020 # Turkey_Italy pic.twitter.com/XIy7WttJb8

— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) June 11, 2021

In vain, Immobile tried with the Italian players to convince the Dutch referee, Danny Makele, that it was a penalty, and that he should resort to the video assistant referee (VAR).

The truth is that the referee has already resorted to the mouse, but without the players knowing because it is one of the arbitration cases that the mouse must review well and help the referee in it, and they certainly assured the referee that there was already a hand touch, but it was not intentional;

As intentionality is a prerequisite for calculating a handball violation even if it is inside the penalty area, of course, through the wireless communication between the referee and the mouse room.

Indeed, the decision of the referee and the mouse was correct because there was no intentional handball, as Article 12 (Faults and Misconduct) in the Football Law (FIFA) laid 4 basic considerations for calculating the violation of handball, namely:

1- The movement of the hand or arm towards the ball, or the ball is the one that headed or hit the arm, and in our case we find that the ball is the one that headed to the arm, but the player tried to avoid it, but he could not.

2- The distance between the opponent and the player who touched the ball with his hand, as the greater the distance, the greater the chance of intentionality, because there is an opportunity for the defender to keep his hand away from the ball, and in our case the distance was close, and the defender did not give an opportunity to remove his arm.

3- The position of the hand: is it normal or abnormal?

Meaning that it increases the size of the body, and in our case the arm was adjacent to the chest, any natural movement.

4- The speed of the ball, that is, the force of its shot, as the faster the ball and the close distance, the more difficult it is to avoid it, as happened from the defender in our case.

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  • Former international referee