official rules of soccer are called the Laws of the Game and they are maintained by two governing bodies: the International Football Association Board (IFAB) and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).
What is FIFA?
FIFA is an acronym for Fédération Internationale de Football Association. It is the international governing body of association football, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. FIFA is responsible for the organization and governance of soccer’s major international tournaments, most notably the FIFA World Cup, held since 1930. The Laws of the Game are not solely the responsibility of FIFA; they are maintained by a body called the International Football Association Board (IFAB). FIFA has members on its board (four representatives); the other four are provided by the football associations of the United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, in recognition of their contribution to the creation and history of the game. Changes to the Laws of the Game must be agreed by at least six of the eight delegates.
Quickies
Did you know …
that FIFA has 208 football association members?
What is IFAB?
IFAB is an acronym for the International Football Association Board. Established in England in 1886, the board was originally made up of the United Kingdom’s four pioneering football associations: England’s Football Association (The FA), the Scottish Football Association (SFA), the Football Association of Wales (FAW), and Northern Ireland’s Irish Football Association (IFA). Its aim was to create a unified set of rules for the game in Great Britain and function as a governing body. Each of the four founding FAs had equal voting rights on the board. Beginning in 1913, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), which governs world association soccer, became a voting board member. Today, each UK association has one vote on the board and FIFA has four. IFAB deliberations must be approved by at least six votes. Thus, FIFA’s approval is necessary for any IFAB decision, but FIFA alone cannot change the Laws of the Game; they need to be agreed by at least two of the UK members.
How many referees are there in a regulation soccer match?
There are three. One referee (sometimes called the centre referee), and two assistant referees (formerly called linesmen) who patrol the perimeter of the field and carry flags to signal to the referee. The referee, who is the only one of the three who conducts his duties in bounds on the pitch, is the ruling authority for any given soccer match. His word is law on the pitch.
Who was Ken Aston?
The red and yellow card system was invented by English referee Ken Aston, whose innovation was inspired one day in the late 1960s by the yellow “caution” and red “stop” lights in the streets of London. Aston sat on FIFA’s Referee’s Committee from 1970 to 1972. His card system was first used at the 1970 World Cup. Aston died on October 23, 2001 at the age of 86.
What does a yellow card mean?
The yellow card is a caution issued to a player by the referee. The yellow card may be shown to a player who is guilty of unsporting behaviour, shows dissent by word or action, persistently infringes the Laws of the Game, delays the restart of play, fails to respect the required distance when play is restarted with a corner kick or a free kick, enters or reenters the field of play without the referee’s permission, or deliberately leaves the field of play without the referee’s permission. Any time a yellow or red card is shown, a “direct” or “indirect kick” will also be awarded.
What does a red card mean?
When a player is shown a red card, it means ejection from the game. By the Laws of the Game, a player must be shown a red card for serious foul play, violent conduct, spitting at an opponent or any other person, deliberately handling the ball in an attempt to prevent an obvious scoring opportunity, denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity to an opponent moving toward the player’s goal by an offence punishable by a free kick or a penalty kick, and for using offensive, insulting, or abusive language. A player will also be shown a red card and ejected immediately after receiving a second yellow card caution in the same match.
How many players are allowed to play for a team in a soccer match?
Soccer teams may consist of a maximum of 11 on-field players (and a minimum of seven) with three substitutes allowed per game. If, due to injuries or other reasons, a team cannot field seven players, the match is cancelled.
The Seven Ways a Ball Can Be Put into Play
• Kickoff
• Throw-in
• Goal kick
• Corner kick
• Free kick
• Penalty kick
• Drop ball
Who wore the first shin guards?
Shin guards, which are now required kit under the Laws of the Game, were first introduced in 1874 by Sam Widdowson, a player for Nottingham Forest. Widdowson cut down a pair of cricket shin pads and strapped them to the outside of his stockings. He was initially ridiculed, but the protective value of the pads could not be denied and they eventually caught on.
Quickies
Did you know …
that a professional soccer player runs an average of 6.2 miles in a game and burns 1,000 to 1,500 calories?
What is the “Acme Thunderer”?
Through the 1860s and 1870s, Joseph Hudson, an English toolmaker from Birmingham, was using his home bathroom as a whistle-making workshop, but it wasn’t until 1884 that he invented the Acme Thunderer, which is credited as the world’s first reliable pea whistle and quickly became the whistle of choice for British soccer referees.
Fouls That Will Lead to an Indirect Free Kick
By a goalkeeper inside his own penalty area:
• holding the ball in hands for longer than six seconds;
• handling the ball after it has been released from his possession but has not yet touched another player;
• handling the ball after it has been deliberately kicked to him by a teammate; or
• handling the ball after he has received it directly from a throw-in taken by a teammate.
By any player:
• playing in a dangerous manner;
• impeding the progress of an opponent;
• preventing
