What are the FIFA criteria for the accreditation of football stadiums?

Although the basic laws of football seem the same all over the world, the standards approved by the International Federation Council (IFAB) - as the structure responsible for the laws of the game - for the dimensions and sizes of football fields sometimes differ from one stadium to another, but they do not in any case deviate from the standards Strictly controlled, especially stadiums hosting major competitions and officially approved by the International Football Association (FIFA).

When the first rules governing football appeared - approved by Cambridge University in 1846 - the London Agreement did not specify the dimensions of the stadium, nor the height of the goal, nor the duration of the match, but over the years, football began to develop and take more stringent measures in its system, and the stadium was at the forefront of the elements that were taken care of. It is necessary to hold a football match, and perhaps what confirms this rule is that the first article in the football laws is called “the field of play”, and it is concerned with the basic standards of the stadium.

The history of football stadiums

Historically, football stadiums have witnessed a continuous development, in parallel with the development of the laws of the game, its plans and methods of practice; After the pitch in the first phase of the game’s history was solid and not precisely flat, it later became flat and covered with special grass, which is currently adopted in most of the world’s stadiums, but it became permissible for the pitches to be covered with artificial grass, provided that it is green.

Before talking about the development of football stadiums, and the change in their standards, it is worth taking a look at the history of the establishment of the first stadiums in the history of football, which dates back to the mid-19th century, specifically in the United Kingdom, where the “Prime Lane” stadium in the English city of Sheffield was the first A football stadium is being built in the world, in 1855, and was initially hosting cricket matches.

Strict standards

The standards for the dimensions of football fields vary from one stadium to another and from one competition to another, and during international matches, FIFA imposes special limits that must be adhered to, and precise specifications that must be met to accept a stadium hosting an official match. First, the length of the stadium is limited to between 100 and 110 meters, in The width should not be less than 64 meters and not more than 75 meters.

The longitude lines on both sides are called the touch lines, and the two latitudes bear the name of the goal line, and when the ball crosses the touch line, it returns through a throw-in, but if it crosses the goal line, the resumption of play is either with a goal kick or a corner kick.

The authorities that enacted football laws have defined lines to draw the boundaries of the perimeter of the stadium and the playing area, and these lines are one of the basic elements of the stadium in order to be in conformity with the specifications required to host matches. In the middle there is a circle with a diameter of 10 yards (9.15 metres) and this circle allows the referee to ensure that the players of one team are committed to respecting the legal distance during the execution of the kick-off by the other team, as well as when the match resumes after goals have been scored.

The length of the field when the football appeared exceeded 180 meters, while the width reached 90 meters, before reaching the adoption of dimensions that are less stressful for the players.

As for the transverse goal area line, it is separated from the goal line by 6 yards (5.5 meters), while the limits of the penalty area reach 18 yards (16.5 meters), where the error inside that area turns into a penalty kick for the opposing team executed from a point away from the goal line 11 meters, called the penalty point.

In 1937, the court lines were revised and an arc was drawn outside the penalty area so that the players were equal in distance from the ball when taking the penalty kick.

Goal nets are essential

FIFA has set other conditions for the football stadium to conform to the specifications, where a banner is placed in all four corners of the stadium on a pole not less than 150 centimeters high, called the corner column.

At each corner column inside the stadium, a quarter of a circle is drawn for the ball to be placed inside it when the corner kicks are executed, so that the referee can re-execute the kick if the ball was executed from outside that line.

As for the two vertical goal posts, the length of each of them is 2.44 meters, and they are connected by a horizontal column called the horizontal crossbar, and its length reaches 7.32 meters, which is the width of the goal. FIFA also specified the thickness of the posts and the crossbar to be 12.5 centimeters.

It is also required to hold a football match to install a net surrounding the three sides of the goals (from the right, left and back) in both goals, and the nets appeared for the first time in football in 1925 after matches were held until that time without nets for the goal.