Soccer

Overview

Eleven players a side try to put the ball into the opposing goal using any part of the body except the hands and arms. Most goals at full time wins.

This entry is checked against the IFAB Laws of the Game 2026/27, effective from 1 July 2026. The International Football Association Board, not FIFA, writes the Laws — FIFA holds four of its eight votes and defers to it.

1. The field and equipment

Element	Dimension
Length (touchline)	90–120m; 100–110m for internationals
Width (goal line)	45–90m; 64–75m for internationals
Goal	7.32m wide × 2.44m high
Penalty area	16.5m from each post, 16.5m deep
Penalty spot	11m from the goal line
Centre circle	9.15m radius
Ball	68–70cm circumference, 410–450g

Lines belong to the areas they bound. The ball is only out of play when it has wholly crossed the line, on the ground or in the air — and a goal counts only when the whole ball crosses the whole goal line.

2. Players

Only the captain may approach the referee to query a decision, and must do so respectfully. Introduced as guidelines, this becomes a compulsory protocol for all competitions from 1 July 2027.

A substituted player has ten seconds to leave the field. Exceed it and their replacement cannot come on until the first stoppage after a minute has elapsed.

A player who receives treatment on the pitch, or whose injury stops play, must stay off for one minute after the restart, with limited exceptions.

Eleven a side, one of whom is the goalkeeper. A match may not continue if a team falls below seven players.

Substitutions are set by the competition: five in most professional leagues, in three separate windows, plus an additional concussion substitute where adopted.

Compulsory equipment is a shirt, shorts, socks, shinguards and footwear. Anything dangerous — including jewellery — must be removed, not merely taped over.

3. Duration

Two halves of 45 minutes, with half-time no longer than 15.

The referee adds time for substitutions, injuries, deliberate time-wasting, goal celebrations and VAR checks. Since 2022 this has been applied far more generously, with eight or more added minutes now routine.

Knockout matches level at full time may go to two 15-minute periods of extra time, then a penalty shoot-out.

4. Restarts

Situation	Restart
Ball over the touchline	Throw-in to the team that did not touch it last
Over the goal line, last touched by the attack	Goal kick
Over the goal line, last touched by the defence	Corner kick
Goal scored	Kick-off to the conceding team
Foul	Direct or indirect free kick
Foul by the defence inside their penalty area	Penalty kick
Stoppage with no restart owed	Dropped ball

A throw-in requires both feet on or behind the touchline, the ball delivered with both hands from behind and over the head, and both feet on the ground at release. A goal cannot be scored directly from one.

Kick-off may now score directly, and the ball may be played in any direction.

Time limits on restarts

The 2026/27 Laws put visible clocks on three things that used to be left to the referee's patience.

Situation	Limit	Penalty for exceeding it
Goalkeeper controlling the ball with hands inside their own area	8 seconds	Corner kick to the opposition
Delaying a throw-in	5 seconds	Throw-in given to the opponents
Delaying a goal kick	5 seconds	Corner kick to the opponents

The goalkeeper rule replaced the old six-second limit, and the change of punishment matters more than the change of count: it used to be an indirect free kick, which referees almost never gave. A corner is a real sanction, so this one is actually enforced. The referee counts the last five seconds visually with a raised hand.

A goalkeeper counts as in control when the ball is between their hands, held in an outstretched open hand, or being bounced or thrown up.

5. Offside

A player is in an offside position if, at the moment a teammate plays the ball, they are:

• in the opponents' half, and
• nearer to the opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second-to-last opponent.

The goalkeeper is usually, but not necessarily, that second-to-last opponent.

Being in an offside position is not an offence. It is only penalised if the player becomes involved in active play by:

• interfering with play — touching or playing the ball;
• interfering with an opponent — obstructing the line of vision, challenging, or making an obvious action that affects them; or
• gaining an advantage from having been in that position, such as playing a rebound off the post or a deflection off a defender.

You cannot be offside:

• in your own half,
• directly from a throw-in, corner kick or goal kick, or
• level with the second-to-last opponent, which counts as onside.

A deliberate play by a defender — as distinct from a deflection or a save — resets the offside phase.

6. Fouls

A direct free kick is awarded for careless, reckless or excessively forceful contact: charging, jumping at, kicking, pushing, striking, tripping or tackling an opponent. Also for holding, impeding with contact, spitting, and handball.

An indirect free kick — from which a goal cannot be scored directly — is awarded for dangerous play, impeding without contact, and several goalkeeper offences, including holding the ball longer than permitted, and handling a deliberate kicked back-pass or a throw-in from a teammate.

Handball

Substantially rewritten in 2021 and still the most contested Law.

It is an offence to:

• touch the ball deliberately with hand or arm;
• touch it with the hand or arm having made the body unnaturally bigger — the arm positioned away from the body in a way not justified by the movement; or
• score with the hand or arm, deliberately or not.

It is not an offence when the ball comes off the player's own body or a nearby player's body onto the arm, when the arm is close to the body, or when a player is falling and the arm supports the body.

An attacker accidentally handling immediately before a goal is an offence. A teammate accidentally handling earlier in the move is not.

7. Cards

Yellow — unsporting behaviour, dissent, persistent infringement, delaying the restart, failing to respect the required distance, entering or leaving without permission.

Red — serious foul play, violent conduct, spitting, denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity by handball, denying one by a foul, offensive language, or a second yellow.

A player denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity by a foul inside their own penalty area receives only a yellow, if it was a genuine attempt to play the ball — the penalty is considered sufficient punishment.

8. The penalty kick

The ball is placed on the 11m spot. All players except the kicker and goalkeeper must be outside the penalty area, behind the ball, and at least 9.15m from it.

The goalkeeper must have at least part of one foot on or above the goal line when the ball is kicked, and may not be touching the posts, crossbar or net.

The kicker may feint during the run-up but not after completing it. The ball must be kicked forward, and the kicker may not touch it again until another player has.

9. VAR

Video review applies to four match-changing categories only:

1. Goals, and offences in the build-up
2. Penalty decisions
3. Red cards — including a clearly incorrect second caution
4. Mistaken identity, where a yellow or red card went to the wrong player

Category 3 changed for 2026/27. It used to read "direct red cards (not second yellow card/caution)", and a sending-off from a wrongly given second yellow could not be reviewed. It can now. Most explanations online, including this page until it was checked, still describe the old position.

Mistaken identity was also widened: it now covers a card shown to the wrong player of either team, not only the offending one.

Competitions may additionally opt to let VAR review a clearly incorrect corner kick, provided it can be corrected immediately without delaying the restart.

The threshold is a clear and obvious error, or a serious missed incident. The on-field referee retains the final decision.

Pushing and charging

You cannot push people. Pushing is a foul — a direct free kick, and a penalty inside the area. Using hands or arms to move an opponent is penalised whether or not the ball is close.

Shoulder-to-shoulder charging is legal, provided both players are within playing distance of the ball, are attempting to play it, and the arms stay down. That distinction is why near-identical contacts get opposite decisions.

Commonly argued

• Handball is not automatic. Ball-to-hand with the arm close to the body is not an offence.
• Level is onside. The attacker must be beyond the second-to-last opponent.
• You cannot be offside from a throw-in. Or a corner, or a goal kick.
• The whole ball must cross the whole line — for a goal, and for out of play.
• A goalkeeper holding the ball for more than eight seconds concedes a corner. Not an indirect free kick, and not six seconds. Both of those are the old rule.
• VAR can now overturn a second yellow. That changed in 2026/27; it could not before.
• Only the captain may approach the referee, and from July 2027 that is compulsory everywhere rather than guidance.
• A back-pass offence needs a deliberate kick. A header or a chest back to the keeper is legal.
• Advantage can be played and the card still shown at the next stoppage.
• A goal can be scored direct from a kick-off or a corner. Not from a throw-in or an indirect free kick.