What do you know about football law?

The World Cup is a sporting season par excellence for football fans , and it has the advantage of attracting those who do not follow the game or even love it.

Because of the huge interest at the level of the media of all kinds, and also at the level of the general public, a group of people may find themselves forced to follow some matches, even if they do not know anything about its laws.

In these lines, we put some basic information directly related to football, which will make it easier for this category to know the laws of football, and it may be self-evident to the majority of the followers of the "round witch".

Football matches are played between two different teams, whether at the level of clubs or the national teams of a particular country.

Team uniform and number of players

Each team wears a special uniform, with specific colors for each party, and it must be similar in design from the shirt to the shorts to the socks, and the players must wear a leg protector to avoid injury.

Each team consists of 11 players, including the goalkeeper, and his task is to prevent the opposing team from entering the ball into the net, and he is the only player who is allowed to play using all parts of his body, including his hands (using hands inside the penalty area only).

Each team is allowed to make 5 changes according to the latest amendment to the law, as it was only allowed to make three substitutions before the Corona virus pandemic.

The shape and dimensions of the football field

Football matches are played on green grass (natural or artificial but the former is preferred), having specific agreed dimensions in terms of length and width.

The playing field is rectangular in shape, delimited by longitudinal and transverse white lines, the longitudinal ones are called the touch lines, and the transverse ones are called the goal line.

A third transverse line divides the field into two equal parts, in addition to the center circle, in the center of which is a white dot, which is used to kick the start of the match, or to resume it if one of the two teams scores a goal.

The length of the courts in which the world championships are held ranges from 100 meters to 110 meters, and its width ranges between 64 and 75 meters.

Goal and ball

At the end of each side, there is a goal that consists of a crossbar that rises 2.44 meters from the ground, and two posts that are 7.32 meters apart. There is also a flag at the corner of each court to facilitate the corner kick.

A soccer ball is made of leather or another similar material, and its weight ranges between 140 and 450 grams, and its circumference is between 68 and 70 cm.

Football referees

A football match is run by a staff of referees, each with his own role, but the primary authority and final decision rests with the referee.

The main task of the referee is to apply the law in terms of calculating the errors committed by the players of the two teams.

He is assisted on the lines by two assistant referees holding a flag in their hands, whose responsibility is to calculate the infiltration or notify the referee that the ball has crossed the limits of the field, and sometimes the referee of the arena participates in making technical decisions such as violations or administrative such as warnings and expulsion, if he does not notice a violation.

There is also a fourth referee whose main responsibility is to make substitutions, and to communicate with the arena referee if something happens on the bench, and he can compensate the arena referee if he suffers an injury during the match.

Since the 2018 World Cup in Russia, 4 VAR referees have been added to this team, one main and 3 assistants, and their responsibility is to inform the referee of a fateful decision in 4 cases: calculating a goal or canceling it, or calculating a penalty kick or not, in addition to A player has been ejected or a player cautioned by mistake.

Match duration

The match is played in two halves, each halving 45 minutes, and the referee calculates the lost time if play stops for any reason.

In the play-off matches in which a winner is required, the confrontation extends to two additional periods of 15 minutes each, and in the event of a tie, a penalty shoot-out will be decided.

Before the start of the match, the referee draws a coin, and the winning player has the right to choose between taking the kick-off or choosing the goal.

Stop playing and score goals

Play stops for a few seconds, and may extend to minutes, if any player commits a foul against his opponent, or if the ball goes beyond the limits of the field, or one of the players suffers an injury, in addition to scoring a goal.

One of the two teams is considered the winner of the match if more than one opponent succeeds in placing the ball in the net of his opponent’s goal, and the match can end in a draw according to the tournament or competition system.

How is offside calculated?

Offside is counted if the player is closer to the goal line than his opponent and the ball at the moment of passing the ball from his teammate.

Offside is not counted if the player runs from the midfield line at the moment the ball is passed to him, and the offside case does not apply when the player receives a ball from the opponent or from a throw-in, corner or goal kick.

Yellow and red card

The player receives a yellow card in several cases, most notably if he plays recklessly or behaves in an unsportsmanlike manner, delays the resumption of play and his team is ahead of the score, or does not respect the legal distance when the opponent takes a free kick or corner.

Another case is that the player leaves the field or returns to it without obtaining the permission of the court referee.

The referee shows the player a red card and sends him off the field if the player receives a second yellow card in the same match.

The referee can announce the red card directly and expel the player for several reasons as well, the most prominent of which are: if he commits a violation of violent play or insults his opponent, or commits dishonorable behavior, or prevents his opponent from a real chance to score a goal or prevents a goal achieved by playing the ball by hand except for the goalkeeper inside his penalty area.

Important information

A goal is awarded if the ball crosses the goal line between the goalposts and under the crossbar, whether on the ground or in the air, provided that no offense is committed or there is an offside before it.

If the ball crosses the touch line, the other team takes advantage of the ball by throwing it by one of the players with both hands, with his feet fixed on the ground, to his teammate from the touch line.

As for the goal kick, it can be carried out by the goalkeeper or any player from the team, after the ball has left the goal line and the last player on the opposing team touched it.

If the ball goes out from the team player of the defending team, the referee awards a corner kick (corner), which the opposing team implements with the foot, in several ways, most notably sending the ball into the penalty area.

Meanwhile, the benefiting team tries to put it into the net with the foot or head, while the defending team tries to defend its goal and remove the ball from it.

If the defending team commits a violation inside its penalty area, the referee directly awards a penalty kick, which one of the opponent’s players shoots from a distance of 9 meters, in a direct confrontation with the goalkeeper, while all players stand outside the penalty area and its arc.