(soccer, futsal) An area of a pitch or field, inside which a penalty is given to the offensive team if a foul is made by the defensive team.
2011 October 20, Michael da Silva, “Stoke 3 - 0 Macc Tel-Aviv”, in BBC Sport[1]:
Racing out of his penalty area after a poor clearance, Haimov was beaten to the ball by Jerome, who rolled it to the waiting Shotton to fire a low shot past the goalkeeper.