AFTER ALL, WAS IT HANDBALL OR NOT BY MATHEUS HENRIQUE?
For those who don’t know, the rules of football are managed by an organization called IFAB (International Football Association Board), which updates them annually.
IFAB was founded in 1886 and is composed of representatives from the four federations of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland), responsible for creating the rules known worldwide today.
Leaving the island of Great Britain and coming to Brazil, we saw yesterday, in the match between Vitória and Cruzeiro, a controversy involving the equalizing goal scored by the Minas Gerais team.
At the start of the play, midfielder Matheus Henrique allegedly controlled the ball with his hand; however, referee Marcelo de Lima Henrique confirmed the goal scored by striker Dinneno. See the video below:
Throughout the night and also this morning, we saw various sports programs discussing whether the refereeing team made an error or not, even showing diagrams that would reinforce what the rule allows or not. However, our team did not see any journalist referencing the IFAB rulebook as a source for their comments.
Thus, we are providing a brief overview of what the football rules say about yesterday's incident, so that you, the reader, can draw your own conclusions.
IFAB does not have a specific chapter for handball; this topic falls under the section on fouls and unsporting behavior.
On page 106 of the 2024/2025 football rulebook, it is highlighted that handball is considered when a player:
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Deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm, for example, by moving the hand/arm towards the ball.
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Touches the ball with their hand/arm when this increases their body size in an unnatural way. A player is considered to have increased their body size unnaturally when the position of their hand/arm is not a consequence of, or justified by, the player's body movement for that specific situation. When the hand/arm is in this position, the player risks having their hand/arm hit by the ball and being penalized.
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Scores a goal in the opposing net:
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Directly with the hand/arm, even if accidentally, including the goalkeeper.
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Immediately after the ball has touched their hand/arm, even if accidentally.
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Additionally, the following diagram is provided (it surprised us that NONE of the sports programs showed such images, which are official from the game rules):
Therefore, only the shoulder is not considered handball. If the ball touches the bicep, even minimally, according to IFAB rules, it is considered handball.
Now, dear reader, it is up to you to determine whether there was control of the ball by player Matheus Henrique using any part of the arm other than the shoulder.