Football/Soccer

The game of football is a family of team sports, all of which are played by advancing a ball into a goal to win the game. While most kinds of football make use of players kicking the ball, there are some other varieties of the game where kicking isn’t used to score. Association football is the most famous of these games, and can also be known through the name “soccer”. Throughout all the variations there are some common elements found in all types of football:

• All games make use of two teams composed of either 11 or 18 players, although some games make use of less players.
• They all play in a clearly defined field.
• Goals are won by advancing a ball to the opposing team’s net which is bound by a goal line.
• The opposing team defends the goal line.
• In order to move the ball around the field, players make us of a variety of tactics such as kicking, hand-passing, or carrying.
• Players are allowed to only use their bodies when moving the ball.

Football laws state that there are two states of play during the game: ball in and ball out play. The ball is at play for the entire game, starting with a kick off at the beginning. The only times that the ball isn’t at play is when it is stopped by the referee or when the ball goes out of the field. On occasion that the ball is out of play, there are 8 restart methods used depending on how the ball went out of play:

• Kick offs are used to begin a play
• A throw in occurs when the ball reaches the touchline, it is given to the team which touched the ball last
• Goal kicks occur when the ball has fully touched the goal line if a goal has not been scored and has last been touched by a player of the opposing team
• Corner kicks are when the ball has crossed the goal line when a goal has not been scored and touched last by a player of the defending team
• Indirect free kicks are awarded to an opposing team after non-penal fouls, technical violations, or when the game is halted to warn or send off the opponent without a foul occurring.
• Direct free kicks are awarded to the fouled team after penal fouls.
• Penalty kicks are awarded to the fouled team after a foul and is punishable by a direct free kick only if it happens within the opponent’s penalty area

Dropped balls are when the referee halts the game for any reason including a player’s injury, external interference, or a defective ball.