Fair Shoulder Charge

A charge is a physical challenge against an opponent, usually with the shoulder and the upper arm kept close to the body. Charging is not an offence in itself: it becomes a direct free kick only where the referee judges it careless, reckless or made with excessive force. The one condition the Laws attach to a fair charge is that the ball is within playing distance.^1, ^2, ^5, ^13, ¹⁵

Key points

✓The Glossary describes a charge as usually using the shoulder and upper arm, kept close to the body. That is a description, not a test¹⁵
✓Charging is an offence only where it is careless, reckless or uses excessive force, exactly as for a tackle^1, ^2, ^4, ⁵
✓The Laws' one stated condition for a fair charge is that the ball is within playing distance¹³
✓Playing distance is reach by extending the foot or leg or by jumping, and depends on the size of the player, so it is wider than being next to the ball¹⁶
✓Outside playing distance the contest is not about the ball, and moving into an opponent's path there is impeding rather than charging^9, ^10, ¹¹
✓The opponent falling does not make a charge an offence: the test is the manner of the challenge, not its outcome^5, ⁶
✓Both players have a right to their position on the field, and being in the way of an opponent is not the same as moving into the way of one¹²
✓Contact led with the elbow has stopped being a charge, and striking with the elbow is its own listed offence^1, ^3, ¹⁵
✓A defender's charging offence inside their own penalty area is a penalty kick¹⁴

Read the full rule

Scenarios

Scenario 1

Shoulder charge sends opponent to ground

No foul

Two players run for a loose ball inside playing distance. One charges the other with the shoulder and the opponent goes down.

Correct call: No offence, play continues. The ball was within playing distance, so a fair charge was available, and the opponent going down is not the test. What matters is whether the challenge showed a lack of attention, consideration or precaution, or disregarded the danger to the opponent.

Common mistake: Giving the foul because the player fell. The Laws judge the manner of the challenge and never its outcome, which is why the same charge is a foul or not a foul depending on how it was made.

Law^1, ^2, ^5, ^6, ¹³

Scenario 2

Player uses elbow in a shoulder challenge

Foul

A player goes shoulder first into a challenge but the point of contact is the elbow, into the opponent's ribs.

Correct call: Direct free kick. Once the elbow rather than the shoulder is doing the work, this is no longer the challenge the Glossary describes, and the referee judges it on the ordinary ladder: careless is the free kick alone, reckless adds a caution, excessive force is a sending-off. Striking with the elbow is separately its own listed offence.

Common mistake: Allowing it because the player appeared to be going for a shoulder charge, or reaching for intent. Intent is not one of the three words the Laws use.

Law^1, ^3, ^5, ^7, ^8, ¹⁵

Scenario 3

Charge with the ball nowhere near

Foul

A player shoulders an opponent off their running line while the ball is thirty yards away.

Correct call: Not a fair charge. The permission the Laws give is tied to the ball being within playing distance, and here it is not, so the contact falls to be judged as an ordinary offence: a careless or reckless charge is a direct free kick. Where there is no contact at all, moving into an opponent's path away from the ball is impeding, which is indirect.

Common mistake: Treating any shoulder-first contact as automatically fair. The shoulder is how a charge is usually made, not a licence to make one anywhere on the field.

Law^1, ^2, ^9, ^10, ^11, ^13, ¹⁶

The full rule

The shoulder charge is one of the oldest legitimate physical contacts in football, and the Laws say less about it than the folklore does. The Glossary defines a charge as a physical challenge against an opponent, usually using the shoulder and upper arm, which is kept close to the body. Note the word usually: that sentence describes what a charge typically is, and it is not a test a challenge has to pass. Charging then appears once more, as the first of the seven offences that are a direct free kick when committed carelessly, recklessly or with excessive force. So the question a referee actually asks about a charge is the same question they ask about a tackle, and there is no separate standard for it. The one condition the Laws do attach appears in the shielding provision: a player may shield the ball if it is within playing distance and the opponent is not held off with the arms or body, and if the ball is within playing distance, the player may be fairly charged by an opponent. Playing distance is defined as reach by extending the foot or leg or by jumping, and it depends on the physical size of the player, so it is a good deal more generous than being next to the ball. Outside playing distance the contest is no longer about the ball, which is why moving into an opponent's path there is impeding rather than charging. Two further things settle most arguments. The opponent going to ground proves nothing either way, because the test is the manner of the challenge and not its outcome. And both players have a right to their position on the field: being in the way of an opponent is not the same as moving into the way of one. Where a defender's charging offence happens inside their own penalty area, the restart is a penalty kick. Two common working lines are Ruleside's rather than the Laws': that contact led with the elbow has stopped being a charge, which follows from the Glossary keeping the upper arm close to the body and from striking being its own listed offence, and that a charge into an opponent's back cannot be made shoulder to shoulder and will normally be at least careless. The Laws draw neither line in those words.^1, ^2, ^3, ^5, ^6, ^7, ^8, ^11, ^12, ^13, ^14, ^15, ¹⁶