Dangerous Play

Playing in a dangerous manner is any action that, while trying to play the ball, threatens injury to someone including the player themselves, and it includes preventing a nearby opponent from playing the ball for fear of injury. It is an indirect free kick.^2, ^3, ⁴

Key points

✓The action must be one taken while trying to play the ball. Without that, it is a challenge or violent conduct rather than dangerous play^1, ^4, ⁷
✓It threatens injury to someone, and the Laws expressly include the player themselves⁴
✓No contact is required: preventing a nearby opponent from playing the ball for fear of injury is named in the definition⁴
✓The restart is an indirect free kick^2, ³
✓A scissors or bicycle kick is permissible provided it is not dangerous to an opponent⁵
✓What separates this from serious foul play is the level rather than contact, since serious foul play needs no contact either^4, ⁶

Read the full rule

Scenarios

Scenario 1

High boot near opponent's head with no contact

Foul

A player raises their boot to play a high ball. An opponent trying to head the same ball pulls away to avoid being kicked, and there is no contact.

Correct call: Indirect free kick for playing in a dangerous manner. The player was trying to play the ball, and the opponent was prevented from playing it for fear of injury, which the definition names in its own words.

Common mistake: Waving play on because there was no contact. The opponent pulling out is the offence rather than the reason there was not one.

Law^2, ^3, ⁴

Scenario 2

Player attempts overhead kick near opponent

Foul

A player attempts a bicycle kick in a crowded penalty area with an opponent close enough to be struck.

Correct call: Indirect free kick if the attempt was dangerous to the opponent. The kick itself is permissible, so the question is only whether this one endangered someone.

Common mistake: Treating the bicycle kick as either always legal or always reckless. The Laws give it an explicit permission with one condition attached to it.

Law^4, ⁵

Scenario 3

Player endangers only themselves

Foul

A player slides head-first towards a bouncing ball at the feet of an opponent who is about to kick it, with nobody else in danger.

Correct call: Indirect free kick for playing in a dangerous manner. The definition covers threatening injury to the player themselves, and it also stops the opponent playing the ball for fear of injuring them.

Common mistake: Assuming an offence needs a victim other than the offender. The clause says "including the player themself" in its own words.

Law^2, ^3, ⁴

The full rule

Law 12 defines playing in a dangerous manner in one sentence, and the condition at the front of it is the one that gets dropped: it is any action that, **while trying to play the ball**, threatens injury to someone, including the player themselves. That qualifier is what separates this offence from the others. An action that endangers an opponent while the player is not trying to play the ball is not dangerous play at all, it is a challenge to be judged as careless, reckless or using excessive force, or violent conduct if there was no challenge for the ball. So the first question is not how dangerous it looked, it is whether the player was going for the ball. The definition then carries its own second limb, which is the reason no contact is needed: it includes preventing a nearby opponent from playing the ball for fear of injury. The opponent who pulls out of a header rather than take a boot in the face is the offence happening, not evidence of a near miss. The sanction is an indirect free kick. The scissors or bicycle kick has a sentence of its own and it is a permission rather than a prohibition: it is permissible provided that it is not dangerous to an opponent. Note the narrower wording there, which says opponent where the general definition says someone including the player themselves, so a spectacular attempt that only risks the player who makes it is not caught by that sentence. What separates dangerous play from serious foul play is not contact. Serious foul play is a tackle or challenge that endangers the safety of an opponent or uses excessive force or brutality, and it needs no contact either. The difference is the level: an action that merely threatens injury is dangerous play, and one that endangers safety in a tackle or challenge is a sending-off.^1, ^2, ^3, ^4, ^5, ^6, ⁷

The law · numbered to match the references above

Law 12 · 1. Direct free kick

1A direct free kick is awarded if a player commits any of the following offences against an opponent in a manner considered by the referee to be careless, reckless or using excessive force:

Law 12 · 2. Indirect free kick

2An indirect free kick is awarded if a player:

3plays in a dangerous manner

Law 12 · Playing in a dangerous manner

4Playing in a dangerous manner is any action that, while trying to play the ball, threatens injury to someone (including the player themself ) and includes preventing a nearby opponent from playing the ball for fear of injury.

5A scissors or bicycle kick is permissible provided that it is not dangerous to an opponent.

Law 12 · Serious foul play

6A tackle or challenge that endangers the safety of an opponent or uses excessive force or brutality must be sanctioned as serious foul play.

Law 12 · Violent conduct

7Violent conduct is when a player uses or attempts to use excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball, or against a team-mate, team official, match official, spectator or any other person, regardless of whether contact is made.

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