Handling the ball
The provision as it is printed, and everything on Ruleside that turns on it.
It is an offence if a player:
· touches the ball with their hand/arm when it has made their body unnaturally bigger. A player is considered to have made their body unnaturally bigger when the position of their hand/arm is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player's body movement for that specific situation. By having their hand/arm in such a position, the player takes a risk of their hand/arm being hit by the ball and being penalised
Verdicts that turn on it 16
Walk a practice scenario to any of these and this clause is part of the answer.
- Direct free kick to the opponentsgoal-kick-corner
- No handball: arm position justifiablehandball
- No handball: arm in a natural resting positionhandball
- Handball: unnatural positionhandball
- Handball: arm extended before fallhandball
- Likely no handball: arm out to break the fallhandball
- Handball: arm above shoulder in jumphandball
- No handball: arms for balancehandball
- No handball: natural running motionhandball
- Handball: arm held unnaturally while runninghandball
- No handball: arms tucked in wallhandball
- Handball: arms raised in wallhandball
- No handball: arm position not chosenhandball
- No handball, and the holding is the offencehandball
- Likely no handball: the arm was holding the player uphandball
- Direct free kick to the opponentsthrow-in
Explained in the rules library 3
The plain-language pages that build on this provision.
Applied in these incidents 3
Real decisions where this clause decided what should have happened.
Changed for 2026/27 1
What this provision replaced, and when it took effect.
Questions that ask it 14
Points in a walk where the reader is deciding this provision.
- Did the ball touch another part of the player's body first, before touching the arm?handball
- Did the player use the arm on the ball to cushion, push, redirect or control it?handball
- What was the player doing at the moment of contact?handball
- Was the arm already extended before the player started falling?handball
- Was the arm raised above shoulder height?handball
- Was the arm extended wide to the side, beyond what balance requires?handball
- Was the arm swinging naturally as part of the running motion?handball
- Was the arm extended away from the body, with no movement to explain why?handball
- Were the player's arms tucked in, covering the body rather than extended outward?handball
- Was the ball struck from very close range with no time to react?handball
- Was the arm's position a risk the player could have seen coming and avoided?handball
- Was the arm's position a risk the player could have seen coming and avoided?handball
- Was the arm on the ground taking the player's weight?handball
- Was the arm out beyond what holding the opponent needed?handball
The Laws of the Game are published by The IFAB and quoted here for the purpose of explaining the decisions on this site. Ruleside is not affiliated with The IFAB or FIFA. Every clause of Fouls and Misconduct that Ruleside cites.