© EuroFootball.com
In the football rules, it is specified that when the ball hits the referee, the game is not stopped and it continues, regardless of whether the attack was disrupted or not. However, there are cases when even football referees find it difficult to pretend that they are treated as "empty" space in such moments.
One such case happened during the selection matches for the European Under-21 Football Championship between the teams of the Netherlands and Slovakia.
Around the 48th minute, one of the Dutch football players wanted to pass the ball to a teammate, but accidentally hit the referee in the shin.
The referee, who suffered a painful blow, did not fall to the ground - he continued to stand, but he needed to take a few steps to ease the pain and grit his teeth.
