Chloe Kelly became an instant national hero on Sunday, when she bundled in the goal that would make England European champions for the first time ever.

Her celebration was also immediately iconic. She wheeled away and went to whip her shirt off – briefly checking the referee had not ruled the goal out – before following through with the act and charging straight towards coach Sarina Wiegman.

Kelly was given a yellow card for her troubles – not that she cared. England were able to see out the final 10 minutes of extra time and photos of Kelly screaming with joy were plastered over the front page of every morning paper.

But why is removing your shirt in celebration a bookable offence? Here’s the law explained.

The rule comes under law 12 of Fifa’s laws of the game, under “fouls and misconduct”.

The rulebook (which for some reason still only refers to players as “he”) states:

While it is permissible for a player to demonstrate his joy when a goal has been scored, the celebration must not be excessive.

Reasonable celebrations are allowed, but the practice of choreographed celebrations is not to be encouraged when it results in excessive time-wasting and referees are instructed to intervene in such cases.

A player must be cautioned if:

Leaving the field of play to celebrate a goal is not a cautionable offence in itself but it is essential that players return to the field of play as soon as possible.

Referees are expected to act in a preventative manner and to exercise common sense in dealing with the celebration of a goal.

The law against removing your shirt started being implemented in July 2004.

It was largely brought in to avoid time-wasting, as a player must find and put their shirt back on after the celebrations.

Removing a shirt also leads to the possibility of displaying political messages on a garment underneath, which is outlawed by Fifa.

Kelly’s celebration will join a long list of famous footballing shirt removals.

Sergio Aguero tore off his shirt when he scored the 94th minute winner against QPR that netted Manchester City their first ever Premier League title.

While playing for the same club, Mario Balotelli pulled his shirt over his head after scoring against rivals Manchester United to reveal a message saying “why always me?“

Cristiano Ronaldo ripped his shirt off and tensed after scoring in Real Madrid’s 2014 Champions League final victory over Atletico.

A more embarrassing example saw Manchester United’s Diego Forlan celebrate shirtless after scoring against Southampton back in 2002 – before the law came in. However, play had restarted before he had time to put it back on.

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