Foul (football)

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A foul in football (soccer) is an unfair act by a player which is deemed by the referee to contravene Law 12 of the Laws of the Game.

For an act to be a foul it must:

be a specific offence listed in Law 12 of the Laws of the Game (other infractions, for example technical infractions at restarts, are not deemed to be fouls);
be committed by a player (not a substitute);
occur while the ball is in play.

As can be seen from the above not all infractions of the Laws are fouls, rather they may constitute — and be punished as — technical infractions and/or misconduct.

Contents

1 Direct free kick offences
2 Penalty kick offences
3 Indirect free kick offences
4 Advantage
5 Other offences
6 See also

Direct free kick offences

Fouls punishable by a direct free kick (sometimes called penal fouls) are:

When a player commits any of the following six offences in a manner considered by the referee to be careless, reckless or using excessive force:
*kicks or attempts to kick an opponent
*trips or attempts to trip an opponent
*jumps at an opponent
*charges an opponent
*strikes or attempts to strike an opponent (throwing a ball at an opponent is considered striking)
*pushes an opponent

When a player commits any of the following four offences:
*tackles an opponent to gain possession of the ball, making contact with the opponent before touching the ball
*holds an opponent
*spits at an opponent
*handles the ball deliberately (except for the goalkeeper within his own penalty area)

Note that all of these offences, with the exception of deliberately handling the ball, require that the act be committed against an opponent. Similar acts against non-opponents, e.g. officials, team-mates or spectators, may not be punished as one of the above offences (they may, however, be punished as misconduct).

Penalty kick offences

If a direct free kick offence occurs within a team's own penalty area it becomes punishable by a penalty kick, irrespective of the position of the ball, provided the ball was in play.

Indirect free kick offences

Fouls punishable by an indirect free kick are:

When a goalkeeper, inside his own penalty area:
*takes more than six seconds while controlling the ball with his hands before releasing it from his possession
*touches the ball again with his hands after it has been released from his possession and has not touched any other player
*touches the ball with his hands after it has been deliberately kicked to him by a team-mate
*touches the ball with his hands after he has received it directly from a throw-in taken by a team-mate

When any player in the opinion of the referee:
*plays in a dangerous manner
*impedes the progress of an opponent
*prevents the goalkeeper from releasing the ball from his hands
*commits any other offence, not previously mentioned in Law 12, for which play is stopped to caution or dismiss a player.

Advantage

According to Law 5 of the Laws, the referee should allow play to continue when the team against which an offence has been committed will benefit from such an advantage. The referee indicates this by calling "advantage" and extending both arms in front of his body.

This means that a foul will not be called if the referee feels that letting play continue is more advantageous to the fouled team than stopping play for a free kick. However, if the anticipated advantage does not ensue at that time, the referee may then stop play and penalise the original offence.

Other offences

Not all infractions of the Laws are fouls. Non-foul infractions may be dealt with as technical infractions (e.g. as breaching the rules governing the restarts of play) or misconduct (these are punishable by a caution or sending-off).