Die-hard football fans would like to believe that they know everything there is to know about the sport – whether it be the history of a tournament’s champions, recent transfers between teams, or the laws of the game.

The latter, in particular, is a certainty given the number of hours avid football fans have put into either attending games or watching their teams on TV.

Some laws are obvious. When a player is offside, it’s usually black or white thanks to current technology. The same can be said for the majority of handballs, too, even if VAR has done its best to complicate things.

Yet, it seems that not all of football’s laws are as easy to understand, as highlighted by a question that was asked on the popular British teatime game show The Chase.

Hosted by Bradley Walsh, the quiz show sees four contestants square off against a ‘chaser,’ who is an expert in all things general knowledge.

However, in this instance, even the accomplished Shaun Wallace found himself stumped by what may be the most difficult sports question in quiz show history.

Free-Kick Question Confuses Everybody

REUTERS/Phil Noble

In a law that even those involved on the show questioned the legitimacy of, the contestant who stepped up to the plate was asked: “In football, if a direct free kick goes straight into a team’s own goal, what is awarded to the team in the opposing goal?” Watch the clip below:

While the answer may appear obvious at first, the potential answers throw a spanner in the works. The contestant, named Francesca, had the option of either a) Goal, b) Indirect free-kick, or c) Corner to choose from. But having admitted that she wasn’t a football fan, she was taking a stab in the dark.

Ordinarily, this would give the chaser the perfect opportunity to close the gap needed to catch the player. However, when the camera panned to Wallace, nicknamed the ‘Dark Destroyer,’ he looked as baffled as anyone. The 66-year-old was open-mouthed and shook his head while whispering, “I can’t remember,” but the best reaction came from presenter Walsh.

After Wallace’s admission, Walsh, who was a promising young player that was once on the books at Brentford, chimed in with his own thoughts on the question:

Admittedly, the television personality is right in that the chances of the situation happening are incredibly slim. Understandably, it would make sense to think that the correct answer would be a goal, as that would be the sufficient punishment for the mistake.

As a panic guess, Francesca opted to go for answer c) Corner, to which Walsh scoffed at her. Incredibly, though, she was right – much to the shock of everyone. It also turned out that Wallace had also guessed the correct answer, though he played it off as if he knew all along.

What the FA’s Laws of the Game Say

Reuters/Andrew Boyers

Due to the eyebrow-raising nature of the answer, many people wanted to find out for themselves and resorted to checking the FA handbook to see if it was true.

And yes, under Law 13: Free Kicks, IFAB’s 2026-27 laws state that:

• “If a direct free kick is kicked directly into the opponents’ goal, a goal is awarded.”
• If an indirect free kick is kicked directly into the opponents’ goal, a goal kick is awarded.
• “If a direct or indirect free kick is kicked directly into the team’s own goal, a corner kick is awarded.”

The archaic law will likely never be changed due to the fact that the chances of an own-goal being scored from a direct free-kick are so slim that it will never be argued in the future.

However, it still remains one of the strangest rules the game has ever seen, up there with the likes of the ‘silver goal’ or the ‘advance 10m rule’.

Jadon Sancho is still looking for a new club after being released by Manchester United earlier this summer, as Pep Guardiola’s comments about the England winger look more relevant than ever.

Sancho spent two years in the Manchester City youth system after joining from Watford at just 15 years old. Since then, he’s had an impressive spell at Borussia Dortmund before a big-money move to the Red Devils.

His spell at Old Trafford was ultimately a failure, as Sancho spent most of his time out on loan, most recently at Aston Villa. Now, the future is extremely uncertain for the 26-year-old, who was once one of the most exciting players in world football.

Sancho’s Career Hits New Low as He Trains With 10th-Tier Club

Between 2021 and 2026, the Englishman managed just 83 appearances for United, scoring 12 and registering six assists. Per The Sun, Sancho has recently been using non-league Flixton’s 2,000-capacity Valley Road ground to keep fit.

“You’ve got a nice layout here. It’s the first time I’ve seen a nice pitch [in this area] apart from United and City,” he said when discussing the facilities in a club interview.

The currently unemployed forward has promised to be in the stands to watch Flixton’s game next Tuesday as the club prepare for their first competitive season since going bust in 2012.

Pep Guardiola Already Explained Sancho Red Flag

Speaking in 2017, Guardiola explained Sancho’s decision to leave Man City to find more game time at Dortmund. The Catalan-born coach explained a new deal was agreed with the player, who was also set to train with the first team, before Sancho changed his mind.

Guardiola explained: “There are two sides to the decision and if one side doesn’t want it, it doesn’t want. We arrived at an agreement with Sancho, we shake our hands [on a deal], so we offered him a huge deal in terms of the salary. Even after when they say ‘No’, we met the father and the managers, and the other managers, and with him, but if the player says ‘No, no, no, no, no’, what can we do?”

That led the English club to leave him behind when they left for the pre-season tour of America after Sancho failed to show up for training sessions, as Guardiola added: “We shake our hands and after that, before we went to the States, he decided, or the managers decided, ‘I am not going to sign the contract’.

“We said, ‘OK, you are not going to travel to the States because if you are not going to sign the contract, you are going to stay here’, and after that for the last two or three weeks he didn’t appear in the training sessions. He should come but he didn’t. I said, ‘Where are you?’”

Guardiola, one of the Premier League’s greatest-ever managers, has been known to give youth a chance during his reign at the Etihad, and even with Barcelona and Bayern Munich. But ultimately, Sancho didn’t want to hang around to see how things would go at Man City.

Statistics in this article are courtesy of Transfermarkt. Correct as of 02-08-26.

Manchester United have thus far focused their transfer business on a midfield rebuild ahead of the 2026/27 season, with little change believed to be needed up front.

Benjamin Sesko, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo all flourished under Michael Carrick at Old Trafford, contributing 18 league goals between them after the manager replaced Ruben Amorim.

With Marcus Rashford still on the books and Joshua Zirkzee linked with an exit, it has been no surprise to see the Red Devils focus attention elsewhere, despite ambitious links with Brentford man Igor Thiago and Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins.

However, United could be forced into striker recruitment should Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich launch a big transfer move for Sesko.

Bayern Munich still interested in Benjamin Sesko

German football specialist Christian Falk claims that Bayern Munich have not ruled out a move for Sesko in the future. The Bundesliga giants already have England international Harry Kane to lead the line but Vincent Kompany could see the benefit in added competition for the striker.

Sesko, described as ‘ruthless’, would offer Bayern Munich a very different profile to that of Kane, with the ex-Tottenham Hotspur man famous for his penchant to drop deep and play a role in starting attacking moves. The Slovenia international would offer a more traditional centre-forward option.

Bayern have already splurged £47 million on the versatile Ismael Saibari this summer and had not been expected to pursue another striker. However, Falk claims that is not necessarily the case.

Speaking to CFBayern Insider, Falk said: “The Slovenian is still on the list, and he’s a player who is very interesting for FC Bayern.

“Perhaps, if he’s struggling to make his mark in the Premier League, they could return to this idea. The plan for the future, nonetheless, is to sign another striker who can be Harry Kane’s successor while also being capable of playing in a two-striker system. This is one of Vincent Kompany’s key ideas.”

Man Utd Star’s Pre-Season Absence Explained

Those words would suggest that, even if not before the end of the summer window, Bayern could still harbour interest in Sesko in the near future. The striker still has another four years to run on his current contract at Old Trafford.

Sesko has been absent from Red Devils pre-season preparations in recent weeks, not featuring in friendlies against Wrexham and Rosenborg, but that is not due to transfer speculation.

The striker, who arrived for £74 million last summer, continues his rehabilitation from a shin injury that caused him to miss the final three fixtures of the 2025/26 Premier League campaign against Sunderland, Nottingham Forest and Brighton.

Sesko returned to outdoor training last week and is fighting to be fit for the start of the season, which comes in a trip to Hull City on August 22.