Law 8: The Start and Restart of Play
The 27 provisions of this law that Ruleside argues from, in the order they are printed. Each one has its own address and lists every verdict, incident and rules page that turns on it.
Jump to a section (4)
- A kick-off starts both halves of a match, both halves of extra time and restarts play after a goal has been scored. Free kicks (direct or indirect), penalty kicks, throw-ins, goal kicks and corner kicks are other restarts (see Laws 13–17). A dropped ball is the restart when the referee stops play and the Law does not require one of the above restarts.p97 · cited by 7 pages
- If an offence occurs when the ball is not in play, this does not change how play is restarted.p97 · cited by 1 page
1. Kick-off
- the referee tosses a coin and the team that wins the toss decides which goal to attack in the first half or to take the kick-offp97 · 2
- depending on the above, their opponents take the kick-off or decide which goal to attack in the first halfp97 · 2
- the team that decided which goal to attack in the first half takes the kick-off to start the second halfp97 · 2
- for the second half, the teams change ends and attack the opposite goalsp97 · 2
- after a team scores a goal, the kick-off is taken by their opponentsp97 · 2
- all players, except the player taking the kick-off, must be in their own half of the field of playp97 · 2
- the opponents of the team taking the kick-off must be at least 9.15 m (10 yds) from the ball until it is in playp97 · 1
- the ball must be stationary on the centre markp97 · 1
- the referee gives a signalp97 · 1
- the ball is in play when it is kicked and clearly movesp97 · 4
- a goal may be scored directly against the opponents from the kick-off; if the ball directly enters the kicker's goal, a corner kick is awarded to the opponentsp98 · 4
Offences and sanctions
2. Dropped ball
- If, when play was stopped:p98 · 13
- the ball was inside the penalty area, the referee drops it for the defending team goalkeeper in their penalty areap98 · 8
- the ball was outside the penalty area, the referee drops it for one player of the team that would have retained or gained possession (including from the restart if the ball would have gone out of play) if this can be determined by the referee; otherwise, it is dropped for one player of the team that last touched it. The ball is dropped at its position when play was stopped, unless it hit a match official or outside agent, in which case it is dropped at the position of the interference/contactp98 · 10
- All other players (of both teams) must remain at least 4 m (4.5 yds) from the ball until it is in playp98 · 4
Offences and sanctions
Provisions this site does not cite are not listed, so this is not a copy of the Laws. The full text is published by The IFAB. All laws.