Basic Rules of the Game

Our goal with this list of basic soccer rules is to educate our parents on the basics rules of the game so that we as a club can be an example at games and treat our referees with the respect they deserve. Remember, it’s only a game!

Advantage Rule

One of the most misunderstood situations in the game of soccer is related to the Advantage Rule, which
is contained within Law 5 of the Laws of The Game. While this rule actually favors a team more than it
hurts, widespread confusion about this rule leads to a lot of screaming parents on the sideline.

Yes, your son or daughter may have just been crushed by a late tackle as they passed the ball, but if their
pass makes it to a teammate with time and space on the ball — especially in the attacking half of the
field — then you really DON’T want to hear to the referee’s whistle, do you?

Referees are advised to yell “play on” and raise both arms forward when they acknowledge an obvious
foul occurred, but they are obligated to NOT stop the play because calling the foul would have actually
have taken a good advantage away from the aggrieved team.

If the foul was bad enough, the referee will return to the offending player at the next natural stoppage
of play and eject, caution, or give them a stern talking-to. If not, then literally “no harm, no foul.”

One of the weirdest experiences with this rule that I personally experienced was when a dad was
ejected from his son’s game after insisting the referee should have awarded a penalty kick to his team. A
player was tackled from behind inside the penalty box- a clear foul, but the ball rolled to another player
who shot the ball and scored. The parent actually wanted the penalty kick awarded even though the
team scored seconds after the foul was committed. He berated the referee and was ejected. I
responded by asking the dad to research the rule and email me his understanding of the rule before the
Club allowed him back on the sideline.

Actual wording for the rule: Under the Power and Duties section of Law 5, “The Referee…allows play to
continue when an infringement or offense occurs and the non-offending team will benefit from the
advantage and penalizes the infringement or offense if the anticipated advantage does not ensue at that
time or within a few seconds.”

As always visit the FIFA’s Law’s of the Game 2020/2021 document to read more – Law 5 starts on page 66.

No Hands, Please

I bet you know this one. Most people who know nothing about soccer still know that you aren’t supposed to use your hands unless you’re the goalie.

A couple of points to clarify.

First, the rule for a hand ball includes using any part of the body from the tips of the fingers to the shoulder.

Second, the proper way to look at this soccer rule is that a player cannot “handle” the ball. A ball that is kicked and hits a player’s hand or arm is not a hand ball. This means that the referee must use his or her own judgment to some extent in determining whether or not a hand ball is accidental contact or a purposeful attempt to gain an advantage.

Believe it or not, there is also a situation in which the goalie cannot use his/her hands. This is sometimes called the back-pass rule. Goalkeepers cannot pick up a pass that came directly from one of their teammates. In this case, the goalkeeper must use her feet. Infraction of this soccer rule will result in an indirect kick from the point of the infraction.

For the official handling the ball rule, go to page 104 of FIFA’s Law’s of the Game 2020/2021 document.