I’ve grown up playing soccer and have learnt a lot through my years of dedication. One of the things I realized is that there are many rules in soccer that people don’t know or understand, so here I will share some basic rules you need to know about the game.
The goalkeeper
The goalkeeper can use his hands inside his own penalty area and not outside. In other words, he can pick up the ball and throw it to a teammate who is on the same team as him. He is also a bit more protected from fouls inside the six yard box.
If the ball goes out of play over the touchline, then it is a throw-in and not a corner.
The ball is out of play when it crosses the touchline or goal line, or when it hits any official including the referee (this includes his hand).
Players cannot use their hands unless they are goalkeepers, A goalkeeper is the only player who can use his hands, but even he has some restrictions. The goalkeeper can use his hands inside his own penalty area and not outside of it. He can also touch the ball with his hands in order to control it, pass or shoot at goal.
The offside
You cannot be offside in your own half of the pitch. If you are offside you have to be active, this means that if you haven’t touched the ball or interfered with play, then you won’t get penalized even though you were the closest on to the opponent’s goal.
Penalties are whistled when a person makes a foul, or plays using their hand within the so-called penalty area. Well, what if you have a forward running through on goal and gets tripped by an opponent. In that scenario, it would be inside the penalty area and therefore should be considered as a penalty kick.
Some other basic rule mentions
There are 11 players on each team, including goalkeepers. There have to be at least 7 players left on a team in order for the game to go on. Two yellow cards make a red card, which sends you out of the game for good. You win by scoring a goal, which is putting the ball into the opponent’s net. The team that scores more goals at the end of 90 minutes is the winner. If no one wins after the time runs out, we can either have a draw, or play overtime until we have a definite victor of the match.
I hope this article has helped you understand the basic rules of soccer and what it takes to be a part of the game. If you have any questions about the game, feel free to reach out.
The key thing here is that not everything outside of a penalty area is a free kick but if someone slides in with his studs up and commits dangerous play it will be more than likely be given as more than just one foul but also a yellow card.