Referee Explains Controversial Penalty and Red Card in Hapoel Haifa Match

The Israeli Premier League's refereeing body has clarified the controversial penalty and red card incident involving Hapoel Haifa during their match against Hapoel Tel Aviv. While Hapoel Tel Aviv missed the penalty kick, awarded after a foul by Ivan Kritsak on Daniel Dapa, the decision itself raised questions. Kritsak initially fouled Dapa outside the penalty area before continuing the contact into the box, where the Hapoel Tel Aviv player fell.

According to the explanation, there is no dispute that a foul occurred. However, the unique circumstance of the foul beginning outside the box and concluding inside led to the dual punishment. Referees are instructed to issue a red card and award a penalty when a player denies an obvious goal-scoring opportunity through a foul that does not involve an attempt to play the ball. In this specific case, because the foul started outside the penalty area, a red card would have been issued regardless, resulting in a direct free kick for Hapoel Tel Aviv had the foul not continued into the box.

The refereeing body stated that the situation observed in the match at Sammy Ofer Stadium is the sole instance where such a double punishment, both a penalty and a red card, is applied. Had the foul been solely committed outside the penalty area, the red card would still have been issued, but the resulting restart would have been a free kick, not a penalty.