Is an offside position always a foul?

No. A player in an offside position is only penalised once they become actively involved in play — by touching the ball, by preventing an opponent from playing it, or by clearly blocking an opponent's line of sight. Standing offside without getting involved in the phase is not an offence.

When does the offside rule not apply at all?

There is no offside offence if a player receives the ball directly from a corner kick, a goal kick or a throw-in, or if the ball was last touched by an opponent — except a deliberate save by the goalkeeper, which does not cancel offside.

What is the difference between deliberate and accidental handball?

Handball is penalised if a player deliberately moves a hand or arm toward the ball, or if the arm makes the body unnaturally bigger — meaning its position is not a natural consequence of the player's movement in that moment. A goal scored off a hand or arm is never allowed, however accidental the contact.

What separates a yellow card from a red card?

A yellow card is a warning — for a reckless challenge that endangers an opponent without excessive force, for dissent, for delaying the restart, or for other conduct offences. A red card is for a challenge that endangers an opponent's safety or uses excessive force, or for a second yellow card in the same match.

How is a throw-in taken correctly?

With both feet on the ground, on or behind the touchline, facing the field, throwing the ball with both hands from behind and over the head. If any condition is missing, the throw-in is retaken — by the same team if the ball never entered the field, or by the opposing team if the technique was wrong.

Football Rules Explained — Offside, Handball and Cards

Offside is a position, not an automatic foul. What counts as deliberate handball, how a yellow card differs from a red, and how to take a legal throw-in or penalty — the IFAB Laws of the Game, kept short.

The Laws of the Game are written by IFAB — the International Football Association Board — and they are the same for a Saturday kickabout as for the World Cup: 17 laws in total. Three topics cause more disputes on the pitch and in the stands than everything else combined, because they get misapplied more often than any other rule — offside, handball and cards, and the correct way to restart play once the ball leaves the field. What follows is what the law actually says, not what most people assume it says.

Offside is a position, not an automatic foul

You are in an offside position if, at the moment a team-mate touches the ball, any part of your head, body or feet is in the opponents' half and nearer to their goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent. Hands and arms are excluded from this measurement, even the goalkeeper's.

The part most people get wrong — being in an offside position is, on its own, not an offence. You are only penalised once you become actively involved in the phase, in one of three ways: you touch the ball yourself, you prevent an opponent from reaching it, or you clearly obstruct an opponent's line of sight. A forward standing a half-step offside who never approaches the ball or bothers anyone is not committing anything.

There are also three situations where offside does not apply at all, regardless of position — receiving the ball directly from a throw-in, a goal kick or a corner kick. The same goes if the ball was last touched by an opponent, except for a deliberate save by the goalkeeper, which does not cancel the offside position.

Handball is not any touch of the ball with the hand

The handball rule has changed several times in recent years and remains the most misread. Not every contact between the ball and a hand or arm is an offence — the referee looks at two things.

The first is movement — if a player deliberately moves a hand or arm toward the ball, it is handball. The second is position — if the arm makes the player's body unnaturally bigger, meaning its position is not justified by the player's natural movement in that specific moment, it is also handball, even without intent. For this assessment, the upper boundary of the arm is in line with the bottom of the armpit — anything above that line is treated as shoulder, not arm.

There is no exception here — a goal scored directly off an attacker's hand or arm is never allowed, no matter how accidental the contact was.

A direct free kick and an indirect free kick are not the same punishment

When a player charges, kicks, pushes, strikes, trips or tackles an opponent in a way the referee judges careless, reckless or using excessive force, the opposing team is awarded a direct free kick — it can be shot straight at goal, and a goal counts if it goes in.

An indirect free kick is for technical offences without contact — dangerous play with no touch on an opponent, obstruction away from playing distance, or specific goalkeeper handling errors. The referee signals it by raising an arm above the head and keeps it raised until the ball touches another player, leaves play, or it becomes clear a goal cannot be scored directly. If it is kicked straight into the goal anyway, no goal is given — the defending team gets a goal kick instead.

What separates a yellow card from a red

The referee grades a challenge on three levels. "Careless" earns no card at all — it is an error of execution without real danger. "Reckless" — disregarding the danger to an opponent — earns a yellow card. Using excessive force or endangering an opponent's safety earns a straight red card, whether or not it was the player's first offence of the match.

Yellow cards are also shown without contact — for dissent, for deliberately delaying the restart of play, for not retreating the required distance at a free kick, or for entering the field without the referee's permission. A second yellow card in the same match, for any reason, automatically becomes a red.

What is allowed at a throw-in, a corner kick and a goal kick

A throw-in is taken with both feet touching the ground, on or behind the touchline, facing the field, throwing the ball with both hands from behind and over the head. If any condition is missing — the ball never enters the field directly, or the technique was wrong — the throw-in is retaken, by the opposing team if the fault was technical.

At a goal kick, the ball must be stationary and can be taken from any point inside the goal area by a player of the defending team; it is in play once it is kicked and clearly moves. A goal can be scored directly, but only in the opponents' goal — if the ball goes straight into the kicker's own net, a corner kick is awarded instead. If a player unfairly delays the kick, the referee whistles and counts down five seconds by voice and hand signal; if the kick still hasn't been taken, the opposing team gets a corner.

At a corner kick, the ball is placed in the quarter circle nearest to where it went out, taken by the attacking team, and is in play once it clearly moves — it does not need to leave the corner arc. A goal scored directly from a corner counts the same way it does from a goal kick.

Penalty kicks — what the goalkeeper can do, and what everyone else can't

At the moment the kick is taken, the goalkeeper must have at least part of one foot on, in line with, or behind the goal line — moving sideways is fine, but stepping forward before the kick is not. If both feet are clearly off the line at that moment, it is an offence, and a missed or saved penalty is retaken.

Every other player, except the kicker and the goalkeeper, must stay outside the penalty area and the arc until the ball is in play. A team-mate of the goalkeeper who enters early is only penalised if the encroachment clearly affected the kicker, or if that player reaches the ball and denies the opponents a clear scoring chance.

These rules cover the situations that cause the most arguments on an amateur pitch, but they're only part of the 17 Laws of the Game — the rest deal with refereeing, equipment and how a match is organised. To put them into practice, Sporta MD helps you find a free pitch or court for football, basketball, volleyball or tennis in Chișinău and pull a team together for a match.