Introduction
Football is an extremely popular sport that is played in almost all regions of the world. It’s popular due to its ease of play and extremely exciting matches. The can only be enjoyed if you know some of the basic football rules. This article will give an overview of football rules.
History
Football rules have been steadily evolving with time, although the major rules have stayed the same. The rules are changed to keep the game up to date. These rules are decided by the international governing body for football, that is FIFA.
Features
Firstly, the pitch should be rectangular and its size should be around 90m to 120m long and 45m to 90m in width. The side lines are named as the touch lines and the end lines as goal lines. Secondly, the ball is supposed to be spherical shaped, its circumference must be in between 68-78cm and as for the weight, it should range from 410-450 grams. The game of football consists of 11 players which are allocated to each team. This makes a total of 22 players on the pitch. The minimum number of players allowed is 7 for one team. If due to any reason, any team is reduced to less than 11 players, the match is stopped. The players are supposed to wearing kits. The kit is composed of a shirt, shorts, shin guards, socks and shoes. The shoes are called studs. Both teams must have different colored uniforms, also the kits of the goal keeper and the officials must be of unique color. The match is officiated by three on field referees. The refresh has a whistle to use to stop the play. They look out for any rule breakage and fouls. The game duration in a minimum of 90mins. This included two halves of 45 minutes each. There can be time added on at the end of each half for any stoppages during the game. Also in some classes the match can enter into extras time, which is 30 minutes long, and if the game is undivided even then, penalties are held. A coin toss starts the game. It is done to decide who will kick off the match and who will take which side. If the ball exits the playing field, a throw in or a goal kick is to be taken so that the match can be resumed. Offside rule is also there. It is a rule which comes in effect when and attacker receives a pass whilst being beyond the last defender. This means the attacker has to say in front of the defensive line at the moment a pass is made. Breaking the offside law also results in a free kick. The last of the football rules is that free kicks are awarded whenever a foul is committed.
Tips and comments
These are all the basic rules that are used in football. Knowing them will allow you to enjoy the game of football. You will understand the football rules even more, once you watch a complete match or play the game yourself.
