"Rules of football" redirects here. For the rules of other football games, see
Football.
There are 17 laws in the official Laws of the Game, each containing a
collection of stipulation and guidelines. The same laws are designed to
apply to all levels of football, although certain modifications for
groups such as juniors, seniors, women and people with physical
disabilities are permitted. The laws are often framed in broad terms,
which allow flexibility in their application depending on the nature of
the game. The Laws of the Game are published by FIFA, but are maintained
by the
International Football Association Board (IFAB).
[74] In addition to the seventeen laws, numerous IFAB decisions and other directives contribute to the regulation of football.
Players, equipment, and officials
The
referee officiates in a football match
Each team consists of a maximum of eleven players (excluding
substitutes), one of whom must be the
goalkeeper.
Competition rules may state a minimum number of players required to
constitute a team, which is usually seven. Goalkeepers are the only
players allowed to play the ball with their hands or arms, provided they
do so within the
penalty area in front of their own goal. Though there are a variety of
positions
in which the outfield (non-goalkeeper) players are strategically placed
by a coach, these positions are not defined or required by the Laws.
[71]
The basic equipment or
kit players are required to wear includes a shirt, shorts, socks, footwear and adequate
shin guards. An
athletic supporter and protective cup is highly recommended for male players by medical experts and professionals.
[75][76] Headgear
is not a required piece of basic equipment, but players today may
choose to wear it to protect themselves from head injury. Players are
forbidden to wear or use anything that is dangerous to themselves or
another player, such as jewellery or watches. The goalkeeper must wear
clothing that is easily distinguishable from that worn by the other
players and the match officials.
[77]
A number of players may be replaced by substitutes during the course
of the game. The maximum number of substitutions permitted in most
competitive international and domestic league games is three, though the
permitted number may vary in other competitions or in
friendly matches. Common reasons for a substitution include injury, tiredness, ineffectiveness, a tactical switch, or
timewasting
at the end of a finely poised game. In standard adult matches, a player
who has been substituted may not take further part in a match.
[78]
IFAB recommends "that a match should not continue if there are fewer
than seven players in either team." Any decision regarding points
awarded for abandoned games is left to the individual football
associations.
[79]
A game is officiated by a
referee,
who has "full authority to enforce the Laws of the Game in connection
with the match to which he has been appointed" (Law 5), and whose
decisions are final. The referee is assisted by two
assistant referees. In many high-level games there is also a
fourth official who assists the referee and may replace another official should the need arise.
[80]
Ball
The ball is spherical with a circumference of between 68 and 70
centimetres (27 and 28 in), a weight in the range of 410 to 450 grams
(14 to 16 oz), and a pressure between 0.6 and 1.1
bars (8.5 and 15.6
pounds per square inch)
at sea level. In the past the ball was made up of leather panels sewn
together, with a latex bladder for pressurisation but modern balls at
all levels of the game are now synthetic.
[81][82]
Pitch
As the Laws were formulated in England, and were initially administered solely by the four British football associations within
IFAB, the standard dimensions of a football pitch were originally expressed in
imperial units. The Laws now express dimensions with approximate
metric
equivalents (followed by traditional units in brackets), though use of
imperial units remains popular in English-speaking countries with a
relatively recent history of
metrication (or only partial metrication), such as Britain.
[83]
The length of the pitch for international adult matches is in the
range of 100–110 m (110–120 yd) and the width is in the range of 64–75 m
(70–80 yd). Fields for non-international matches may be 90–120 m
(100–130 yd) length and 45–90 m (50–100 yd) in width, provided that the
pitch does not become square. In 2008, the IFAB initially approved a
fixed size of 105 m (344 ft) long and 68 m (223 ft) wide as a standard
pitch dimension for international matches;
[84] however, this decision was later put on hold and was never actually implemented.
[85]
The longer boundary lines are
touchlines, while the shorter boundaries (on which the goals are placed) are
goal lines. A rectangular goal is positioned at the middle of each goal line.
[86]
The inner edges of the vertical goal posts must be 24 feet (7.3 m)
apart, and the lower edge of the horizontal crossbar supported by the
goal posts must be 8 feet (2.4 m) above the ground. Nets are usually
placed behind the goal, but are not required by the Laws.
[87]
In front of the goal is the penalty area. This area is marked by the
goal line, two lines starting on the goal line 16.5 m (18 yd) from the
goalposts and extending 16.5 m (18 yd) into the pitch perpendicular to
the goal line, and a line joining them. This area has a number of
functions, the most prominent being to mark where the goalkeeper may
handle the ball and where a penalty foul by a member of the defending
team becomes punishable by a penalty kick. Other markings define the
position of the ball or players at
kick-offs, goal kicks, penalty kicks and corner kicks.
[88]
Duration and tie-breaking methods
A standard adult football match consists of two periods of 45 minutes
each, known as halves. Each half runs continuously, meaning that the
clock is not stopped when the ball is out of play. There is usually a
15-minute half-time break between halves. The end of the match is known
as full-time.
[89]
The referee is the official timekeeper for the match, and may make an
allowance for time lost through substitutions, injured players requiring
attention, or other stoppages. This added time is called
additional time in FIFA documents,
[90][91] but is most commonly referred to as
stoppage time or
injury time, while
loss time
can also be used as a synonym. The duration of stoppage time is at the
sole discretion of the referee. The referee alone signals the end of the
match. In matches where a fourth official is appointed, towards the end
of the half the referee signals how many minutes of stoppage time he
intends to add. The fourth official then informs the players and
spectators by holding up a board showing this number. The signalled
stoppage time may be further extended by the referee.
[89] Added time was introduced because of an incident which happened in 1891 during a match between
Stoke and
Aston Villa.
Trailing 1–0 and with just two minutes remaining, Stoke were awarded a
penalty. Villa's goalkeeper kicked the ball out of the ground, and by
the time the ball had been recovered, the 90 minutes had elapsed and the
game was over.
[92]
The same law also states that the duration of either half is extended
until the penalty kick to be taken or retaken is completed, thus no game
shall end with a penalty to be taken.
[93]
Some football competitions use a
penalty shootout to decide the winner if a match ends as a draw
In league competitions, games may end in a draw. In knockout
competitions where a winner is required various methods may be employed
to break such a deadlock, some competitions may invoke
replays.
[94]
A game tied at the end of regulation time may go into extra time, which
consists of two further 15-minute periods. If the score is still tied
after extra time, some competitions allow the use of
penalty shootouts
(known officially in the Laws of the Game as "kicks from the penalty
mark") to determine which team will progress to the next stage of the
tournament. Goals scored during extra time periods count towards the
final score of the game, but kicks from the penalty mark are only used
to decide the team that progresses to the next part of the tournament
(with goals scored in a penalty shootout not making up part of the final
score).
[65]
In competitions using
two-legged matches,
each team competes at home once, with an aggregate score from the two
matches deciding which team progresses. Where aggregates are equal, the
away goals rule
may be used to determine the winners, in which case the winner is the
team that scored the most goals in the leg they played away from home.
If the result is still equal, extra time and potentially a penalty
shootout are required.
[65]
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the
IFAB
experimented with ways of creating a winner without requiring a penalty
shootout, which was often seen as an undesirable way to end a match.
These involved rules ending a game in extra time early, either when the
first goal in extra time was scored (
golden goal), or if one team held a lead at the end of the first period of extra time (
silver goal). Golden goal was used at the World Cup in
1998 and
2002. The first World Cup game decided by a golden goal was
France's victory over
Paraguay in 1998.
Germany was the first nation to score a golden goal
