football

Football, also called association football or soccer, is a game involving two teams of 11 players who try to maneuver the ball into the other team’s goal without using their hands or arms. The team that scores more goals wins. Football is the world’s most popular ball game in numbers of participants and spectators.

Modern football (soccer) originated in Great Britain in the 19th century. Though “folk football” had been played since medieval times with varying rules, the game began to be standardized when it was taken up as a winter game at public schools. The Football Association, formed in 1863, codified the rules of the game and hosted the first cup competition between regional football clubs in Britain.

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA; global governing body for the sport) estimated that at the turn of the 21st century there were approximately 250 million football (soccer) players worldwide. More than 200 countries field international teams that compete in continental and global football tournaments, including the FIFA World Cup, which is held every four years.

The World Cup is football’s premier tournament. It is a quadrennial tournament and is likely the most popular sporting event in the world, drawing billions of television viewers every tournament.

A foul in football (soccer) occurs when a player unfairly challenges or interferes with an opponent while the ball is in play. According to the official Laws of the Game set down by the International Football Association Board (IFAB; FIFA-affiliated governing body for football), fouls include actions such as kicking, tripping, pushing, charging, striking, holding, shirt pulling, tackling an opponent before playing the ball, or handling the ball (except by a goalkeeper inside their own penalty area). Referees also consider whether a challenge is careless, reckless, or uses excessive force when deciding whether to award a foul. Depending on the nature and location of the offense, the punishment may be a direct or indirect free kick, a penalty kick, a yellow card, or a red card. (Read: Soccer Slang 101: A Glossary of Football Terminology.)

When a player receives a red card during a match, they are ejected from the game and must leave the pitch. Players earn a red card when they are given a second yellow card (a caution card for a serious foul) by a referee during the course of the contest or for a foul involving flagrant violence or unsportsmanlike conduct (such as fighting, spitting, or conducting themselves in an abusive manner toward other players and officials). A player receiving a red card cannot return for the duration of the match, and the team cannot replace the ejected player. In addition, the player may not participate in the next match.

Should a goalkeeper (or “goalie”) receive a red card during the course of the match, they are immediately ejected from the match in the same manner that they would be if they played any other position, and the offending team must finish the contest one player down. The team can either elect to play the remainder of the match without a goalkeeper or it may insert a backup goalkeeper. If the team chooses the latter option, a player from another position must be taken out for the remainder of the match.

According to the International Football Association Board (IFAB; the sport’s governing body that determines the its rules and regulations), penalty kicks are taken from the penalty mark, a dot placed in the pitch located 11 meters (about 36 feet) away from the center of the goal line. A penalty kick is a direct free kick that is awarded to the attacking side after a defending player commits a foul within their own penalty area. The penalty areas are the large boxes adjacent to the semicircular arcs at either end of the field. The penalty kick involves the kicker, who attempts to kick the ball into the goal, and the goalkeeper, who attempts to block the attempt.

A penalty shoot-out is a tiebreaker system used in association football (soccer) to decide a winner when a match is tied after both the regulation 90 minutes and 30 minutes of extra time have been played. In the shoot-out each team selects five players from the eleven on the field at the end of extra time to take alternating penalty kicks against the opposing goalkeeper, with the team that scores the most goals after five chances each declared the winner. If the score is tied after five rounds, the shoot-out enters a sudden-death phase in which players from both teams continue taking penalties until a player from one of the teams fails to score in a round. A player is only allowed to take a second penalty kick if everyone else from the team, including the goalkeeper, has done so once and the score is still tied. Unlike when a penalty kick is awarded during open play, in a shoot-out a player cannot score from a rebound if the goalkeeper saves the initial kick or if the ball bounces off the goal frame. During the shoot-out, either goalkeeper can be replaced by another from their respective pool of substitutes if injured. However, if a goalkeeper is shown a red card during the shoot-out, only one of the outfield players can serve as a replacement. Also, if one team has a greater number of players than the opponent before or during the shoot-out, it must reduce its eligible penalty-takers to match the opponent’s number. A match that is decided by a penalty shoot-out is recorded as a draw, and goals scored during the shoot-out are not added to a player’s individual tally.

It depends. No handball foul is called if the point of contact between the player and the ball occurs on the arm above the point in line with the bottom of the armpit (in other words, the shoulder and slightly below the shoulder). Likewise, no foul is called if contact is made below that point on the arm, the referee judges that contact to be incidental, and the contact does not result in the ball going into the opponent’s goal. However, any time a player, who is not the goalkeeper, deliberately touches the ball with his hand or arm, the player has committed a handball foul. Although the goalkeeper can use their hands to play the ball, this power can only occur within their team’s penalty area. Otherwise,the referee may call the foul on the goalkeeper.

No, pulling another player’s shirt during a football (soccer) match is considered a foul under the laws of the game set down by the International Football Association Board (IFAB; FIFA-affiliated governing body for football). If a player pulls an opponent’s shirt to impede or stop them, the referee will usually award a direct free kick or, if the offense occurs inside the defending team’s penalty area, a penalty kick. A player may also be shown a yellow card for shirt-pulling if it stops the opposing team’s attacking play or if they commit the offense repeatedly during the match. If grabbing another player’s shirt results in the denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, the offender may be sent off with a red card.

While football (soccer) is considered a contact sport, pushing an opponent is generally not permitted, except under specific circumstances, such as a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge when both players are vying for control of the ball. Match officials usually decide whether the contact was fair or whether it constituted an illegal push based on the circumstances and the amount of force used. However, players are not allowed to use their hands or arms to shove an opponent, push another player in the back, or forcefully knock an opponent off balance. If a defending player commits a pushing offense inside their own penalty area, the referee will normally award a penalty kick.

Yes. A goalkeeper can score a goal on the opposing team at any time during the match as long as the ball is played with the feet. However, a goal will not count if the goalkeeper either throws or punches the ball into the opponent’s goal directly. (In the unlikely event that a goalkeeper manages to hurl the ball such a distance, it must make contact with another player first before it enters the opponent’s goal to count.) During the waning moments of a match, goalkeepers often move forward to support their team during an attack, and some have kicked the ball in directly or have helped to set up another player who heads the ball into the goal.

Football (soccer) is a physically demanding sport—and not just for the players. During a match, which typically lasts 90 minutes, football referees must follow the action around the pitch, staying within 20 yards (18.3 meters) of the ball. On average, a ref will run between 6 and 8 miles (9.7 to 12.9 km), including frequent bursts of sprinting. By comparison, players average about 7 miles (11.3 km) per match. It is probably not surprising that refs undergo fairly rigorous training and must pass a fitness test in order to officiate at higher levels of the game.

The short answer is: a lot. Football (soccer) players generally run about 7 miles (11.3 km) during a 90-minute match, with midfielders sometimes covering as much as 9.5 miles (15.3 km). That is often cited as the greatest distance run by athletes in any major team sport. Basketball players average about 2.5 miles (4 km) per game, while certain American football players, such as receivers and cornerbacks, can run up to 1.25 miles (2 km). In baseball, the distance varies widely between positions and by how often a player reaches base. Estimates generally range from 0.5 to 1.5 miles (0.8 to 2.4 km).