Soccer Confusions

Association football, or soccer as it’s called in America, has very few rules (formally known as laws) necessary to understand for comprehensive viewing, but because most of these are singular to the sport in question, and because the continuous action makes a thorough explanation difficult, those only familiar with the rules of other sports frequently find soccer unappealing. Adding to the confusion is the fact that it is not uncommon for American sport commentators to unapologetically misuse soccer jargon and for popular information sources such as Wikipedia to have errors. I find it especially irritating when commentators actually criticize referees for enforcing the rules (with statements such as, “I NEVER see that called!”), but the worst are those with no appreciation for the integrity of the game suggesting the rules be changed. My aim here is to help clarify common definitional misunderstandings by highlighting the key aspects of terms for those relatively ignorant of the sport. This is not intended to be a thorough explanation of the rules; for more information visit the laws of the game at FIFA.com. (I have indicated the law number best related to each paragraph in brackets.)

PITCH: The soccer field is properly called a pitch, and while the exact dimensions can vary, it is minimally slightly larger than an American Football field. All lines on the pitch are 5 inches thick. It is divided into two halves, with each half said to belong to a team. The lines bordering the sides of the pitch are the touch lines and the lines bordering the ends are goal lines [Law 1]

SIDE: Each team is called a side. Each side starts a game, or match, with 11 players, one of them designated as the goalkeeper. A simultaneous combination of zone and man-to-man defense is used, and there are no restrictions on where any player can be on the pitch. Most of the zone positions have fairly self-explanatory names, but it seems worthwhile to detail that the player who tends to play deepest into the opponent’s half is called the center forward (cf) or number nine, while an aggressive attacking player who plays a bit deeper than a cf in order to utilize space and angles to drive towards the goal is called a striker or number ten. (Although the striker frequently wears the number ten, it is not a literal reference to a jersey number.) [Law 3]

GOAL: (1) The goal is an area 8 feet high, 8 yards (24 feet) wide and 5 inches thick centered on each end of the pitch. Each side protects their own goal and attempts to score on their opponent’s goal. (The net behind the goal has no purpose other than to make it easier to determine whether a goal has been scored.) [Law 1]

GOAL: (2) A goal scored is a ball in play that COMPLETELY crosses through a goal. The entire ball must be past the 5 inch thickness of the line and posts. No goal can be scored directly from an indirect free kick or throw-in, and a goal cannot be (accidentally) scored through one’s own goal directly from a goal kick, direct free kick, corner kick or penalty kick. [Law 10]

OUT OF BOUNDS: A ball that completely crosses the border of the pitch at any height, other than one that scores a goal, is immediately considered out of bounds and therefore out of play. Possession of the ball is given to the team opposite that of the player who last touched the ball before it went out of bounds. A ball which crosses a touch line is returned to play with a throw-in; which must be two-handed, from behind the head and with both feet on the ground. A ball touched past the opponent’s goal line results in a goal kick, and a ball touched past one’s own goal line results in a corner kick. An active player is never considered out of bounds (see MISCONDUCT). [Law 9, 15-17]

GOAL AREA: Also called the 6 yard box, the goal area is the smaller of the two rectangular areas in front of each goal that primarily functions to demark the area from which a goal kick can be taken. The only other use of the goal area is to limit the location from which indirect free kicks and dropped balls can commence (see INDIRECT FREE KICK and DROPPED BALL). [Law 1]

CHALLENGE: A challenge refers to two players simultaneously going after the ball. It is important to understand that every action of a soccer player (properly called a footballer) MUST be with the intention of playing the ball; either attempting to contact it or getting in position to do so. All contact with an opposing player must be incidental. This means no shoving, kicking, tripping, jumping at (especially with both feet), jumping on, grabbing, charging or even spitting at an opponent, unless these things happen unavoidably and not recklessly in the course of attempting to contact the ball. Also, if an opponent is between a player and a ball, that player cannot contact the opponent enroute to the ball. Any contact with an opponent that a referee judges to be intentional, avoidable or reckless is considered an illegal challenge. [Law 12]

It is equally important to understand that no footballer in the history of the game has ever fully followed this rule forbidding intentional contact with an opponent. Therefore, “heavy challenge” is often used as a euphemism implying that somebody is trying to take someone else out. A “cynical challenge” is a challenge that displays obvious disregard for the rules. No penalty is awarded when the referee find both players equally guilty of not playing the ball.

HAND BALL: While playing the ball, a player cannot intentionally contact it with any part of his hand or arm (from shoulder to fingertips) except by the goalkeeper while within his own penalty area (see PENALTY AREA). Hand ball is actually short for handling the ball. Unavoidable contact with the hand or arm or attempting to avoid such contact is not an infraction. All legal contact with a ball is called a touch. [Law 12]

Even within the penalty area, the goalkeeper can only handle the ball for no more than six seconds, and not after he deliberately releases it or after it is kicked or thrown in to them by a teammate. These infractions are not considered hand balls, however. [Law 12]

OBSTRUCTION: A player not going for a ball cannot get in the way of an opponent’s route to the ball, even if no contact with that opponent is made. However, this does not entitle that opponent to make contact with the player obstructing his route (as contact always trumps obstruction). [Law 12]

DANGEROUS PLAY: A player cannot do anything which could potentially injure an opponent, even if it is incidental and no actual contact is made. Dangerous play includes pointing shoe cleats toward an opponent and kicking near their head, always without making contact. [Law 12]

TACKLE: A tackle refers to dispossessing an opponent of the ball or intercepting a ball on the way to an opponent. This term is used almost exclusively in reference to a slide tackle, in which a tackle is made while sliding feet first. (A tackle can also refer to knocking down an opponent, but that is a homonym and, as such, a distinctly separate definition.) In order for a slide tackle to not be considered an illegal challenge or dangerous play, no contact can be made unless only one foot is forward and remains forward with the cleats facing the ground, while the other foot remains bent back and away from the opponent. (Sliding with both feet forward is called a two-legged tackle, bending a leg and tripping while slide tackling is called hooking and ensnaring an opponent between both legs is a highly punishable infraction called scissoring.) A successful tackle, in other words, winning the ball, is often considered evidence of a legal challenge as long as contact with the ball is made before contact with the opponent. [Law 12]

OFFSIDE: When on the opposing team’s half of the pitch, except any restart following an out of bounds (throw-in, goal kick or corner kick), a player without possession of the ball and ahead of it is ineligible to interfere with play or make an attempt at playing the ball, if at a teammate’s last touch there are not at least two defenders as near or nearer to their goal line (not necessarily between that player and the goal) than that player. This includes every part of his body except arms and hands. Such a player is considered offside and continues to be offside until the ball is touched by an onside teammate while he is not offside or the other team gains possession of the ball. (An offside player remains offside if, for example, a ball is deflected off the goalkeeper or a goal post.) It is NOT a penalty to passively be in an offside position, nor does it matter if a ball is received in an offside position as long as that player was onside when the teammate made last contact, but this requires the receiving player to successfully time his run. Please note that it is NOT “offsides.” The antonym of offside is colloquially referred to as onside. (Offside has nothing to do with the location of the ball relative to the player already controlling it.) [Law 11]

OFFSIDE TRAP: It is common strategy for a defensive player or players to move further away from their goal line just before a ball is to be passed so that potential recipients suddenly become offside. The second to last defender is the lynchpin in defining the imaginary line demarking offside. It is obviously beneficial but also more challenging to have several players in defensive positions holding this back line and synchronizing the offside trap. An offense unable to counter this tactic and beat the offside trap becomes forced to rely on a player’s dribbling skills to maneuver the ball through the line without passing or score a goal from behind the line. A defense competent and confident in holding the line will prefer to push it forward, moving further from their goal. [Law 11]

ADVANTAGE: When a foul is spotted, the referee can chose to allow play to continue briefly in order to determine whether it is preferable for the fouled team to continue play or impose a penalty. The referee signals the fouled team that he has seen the foul but to play the advantage by gesturing both arms forward. After play has been given a few seconds to develop, the referee must make a permanent decision whether to let play continue, allowing the advantage, or stop play and impose the proper penalty. [Law 5]

PENALTY AREA: Also known as the 18 yard box, the penalty area is the larger of the two rectangles drawn in front of each goal. Besides restricting the handling of the ball by the goalkeeper (see HAND BALL), if a player commits an illegal challenge or hand ball within his own penalty area while the ball is in play, the other team can be awarded a penalty kick. [Law 1]

PENALTY KICK: Any one player gets a chance to kick the ball one time from a spot 12 yards in front of the opposing goal, with only the goalkeeper defending it. The goalkeeper must remain on the goal line until the kick, and the kicker cannot break stride. The other players must remain behind the penalty area and outside of the half circle above it (called the “D”) until the kick is made, after which normal play immediately resumes. [Law 14]

DIRECT FREE KICK: For an illegal challenge or hand ball outside of a team’s own penalty area, a referee can stop play and award the fouled team a kick of a stationary ball from the location of the foul (NOT the location of the ball at the time of the foul). The opposing team must remain 10 yards from the ball until it is kicked. [Law 13]

INDIRECT FREE KICK: For offside, dangerous play, obstruction, preventing the goalkeeper from releasing the ball, illegal handling of the ball by a goalkeeper other than a hand ball or if play is stopped to issue any card (see YELLOW CARD and RED CARD), a referee can award the fouled team a kick of a stationary ball from the location of the foul, unless that foul occurs inside a team’s own goal area, in which case it is placed on the line of the goal area nearest the location of the foul. An indirect free kick is similar to a direct free kick, with the exception that after the first kick of the stationary ball, another teammate must also touch the ball before a goal can be scored. A foul penalized by an indirect free kick is never entitled to a penalty kick. [Law 13]

MISCONDUCT: Briefly, misconduct is dissent, delay of game, not allowing the proper distance on a free kick or corner kick or entering or outright leaving the pitch without permission. [Law 12]

YELLOW CARD: Any foul that a referee deems as intentional (and not simply a result of a poor decision or technique) OR misconduct is penalized by giving the guilty player a booking or caution, which is done by literally showing them a yellow card. Play is often not stopped in order to issue a yellow card, but is instead done so at the next available opportunity. Because, by definition, a hand ball is always intentional, in order for it to be penalized with a yellow card, it must be in an attempt to score a goal or unquestionably intentional, which is a slightly higher standard. [Law 12]

RED CARD: If any foul is considered dangerous with solid contact (properly called serious foul play but often mistakenly called dangerous play), violent, vulgar, interferes with an obvious goal scoring opportunity or receives a second yellow card, he is shown a red card and expelled from the game, or sent off. That team must play out the remainder of the match with one less player. [Law 12]

DROPPED BALL: A dropped ball restarts play on the rare occasion when the referee deems it necessary to stop play without assessing a penalty. These reasons include an injury requiring immediate medical attention, the ball goes flat, two balls are in play, something dangerous gets thrown on the pitch, a fan decides to join the game, etc. After these instances, the referee simply drops the ball where it was located when play was stopped and immediately becomes live for any player after it touches the ground, except if the ball was inside the goal area, in which case it is dropped on the goal area line nearest its last location. [Law 8]

The referee should not stop play simply because a player is injured, but a player from the opposing team will sometimes put the ball out of bounds to stop play, allowing an injured player to be attended to, as a courtesy. It is an expected display of good sportsmanship to give a ball back to a team that was in possession whenever play is stopped for an injured player on the opposing team.

SUBSTITUTION: In an official soccer match, each team is allowed to substitute only three players (with only seven potential subs) in total. A substituted player cannot return to play. In an exhibitionary match, called a friendly, the number of substitutions allowed can be whatever the two sides agree upon before the match, with the norm being six. Additional substitutions are not allowed for any reason, including injury. [Law 3]

STOPPAGES: The sport of soccer is intended to be a test of endurance, and so every effort is made to keep the players in constant activity (and is precisely why substitutions are limited). During a match, the time-of-play clock can only be stopped and restarted by the head referee, and, in order to avoid argument or confusion, these stoppages are recorded only by that referee. The stoppages are not intended to be a secret, and happen when a ball goes out of bounds, a goal is scored, a penalty kick or any free kick is given or on rare occasions when the referee deems it necessary to stop play (see DROPPED BALL). Substitutions are only allowed during one of these other stoppages, and only at the referee’s discretion, and so play is never stopped solely to allow a substitution. It is not uncommon for the referee and players to do such a good job of keeping the ball in play that there are only a few seconds worth of total stoppages. [Law 5]

STOPPAGE TIME : All stoppages are added onto the end of every half, and play continues in what is called stoppage time, extra time, injury time or penalty time. The head referee indicates the length of stoppage time, rounded down to the nearest minute (so, for example, 2 minutes of stoppage time indicates at least 2 minutes). (If asked, a referee will tell a player the rounded amount of stoppage time that has been accumulated even before stoppage time begins.) An exact time cannot be given, because stoppages can happen during stoppage time. Also, play does not stop while one team has an obvious advantage. [Law 7]