Rules→What Is a Foul, and What Does It Cost?

Law 12·fouls

What Is a Foul, and What Does It Cost?

Seven physical offences are a direct free kick when the referee judges them careless, reckless or made with excessive force. Those three words also decide the card: careless is no card, reckless is a caution, excessive force is a sending-off. A handful of further offences are a direct free kick however they are committed, and a separate list is only ever an indirect free kick. Inside the offender's own penalty area, a direct free kick offence becomes a penalty.3 11 12 13 14 15 21 34

The full rule

Almost every argument about a foul is really an argument about one of two questions, and the Laws keep them apart. The first is whether there was an offence at all. The second is what it costs. Law 12 names seven physical offences: charges, jumps at, kicks or attempts to kick, pushes, strikes or attempts to strike, tackles or challenges, and trips or attempts to trip. None of them is an offence on its own. Each becomes a direct free kick only where the referee judges it careless, reckless or made with excessive force, so a fair tackle and a reckless one are the same seven words apart. Those same three words then decide the card, which is why the sanction is not a second judgement on top of the first. Careless is a lack of attention or consideration, or acting without precaution, and carries no card. Reckless is acting with disregard for the danger to or consequences for an opponent, and must be cautioned. Excessive force is exceeding the necessary use of force or endangering an opponent's safety, and must be sent off. A second, shorter list is a direct free kick however it happens, with no careless or reckless test to pass: a handball offence, holding an opponent, impeding an opponent with contact, biting or spitting, and throwing an object at the ball, an opponent or a match official. A third list is only ever an indirect free kick: playing in a dangerous manner, impeding an opponent without contact, dissent and other verbal offences, preventing the goalkeeper releasing the ball, and the deliberate trick to circumvent the back-pass law. Where the offence is on the direct free kick list and the offender committed it inside their own penalty area, the restart is a penalty kick. And an offence only exists at all while the ball is in play: free kicks and penalties can be awarded for nothing that happens when it is out. Two things sit alongside the ladder rather than inside it. Some offences carry a card for what they are rather than for how hard they were, denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity above all, and a foul that is neither reckless nor forceful can still be a caution as a persistent offence or for stopping a promising attack. And where the offended team benefits from playing on, the referee may allow play to continue and come back to the card, which does not cancel it except where the Laws say so.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 28 29 30 31 32 34

Key points

✓The seven physical offences are only fouls when they are careless, reckless or use excessive force3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
✓Careless: a lack of attention or consideration, or acting without precaution. Direct free kick, no card11 12
✓Reckless: disregard for the danger to or consequences for an opponent. Direct free kick and a caution11 13
✓Excessive force: exceeding the necessary force or endangering an opponent's safety. Direct free kick and a sending-off11 14
✓Handling, holding, impeding with contact, biting or spitting, and throwing an object are direct free kicks however they are committed15 16 17 18 19 20
✓Dangerous play, impeding without contact and dissent are indirect free kicks, never direct21 22 23 24
✓A direct free kick offence inside the offender's own penalty area is a penalty kick34
✓Nothing is a free kick or penalty offence unless the ball was in play when it happened2
✓A card can also come from what the offence denied rather than how hard it was, DOGSO above all31 32 33
✓A foul that is neither reckless nor forceful can still be cautioned as a persistent offence29 30
✓Playing advantage delays the card rather than cancelling it, except where the Laws say otherwise1 28

Scenarios

Scenario 1

Hard but fair tackle wins the ball

No foul

A defender slides in, takes the ball cleanly, and the attacker goes down over the top of them.

Correct call: No offence, play continues. A tackle is only a foul where it was careless, reckless or used excessive force, and a challenge that shows attention, consideration and precaution is none of those. Winning the ball is not itself the test, but a clean tackle rarely fails it.

Common mistake: Giving the foul because the attacker went down, or waving it away purely because the ball was won. Neither is the question. A tackle that gets the ball and then takes the opponent recklessly is still a caution.

Law3 9 11 12

Scenario 2

Same challenge, three different outcomes

Foul

A midfielder catches an opponent on the shin while going for the ball. Nothing else about the situation changes.

Correct call: The restart is a direct free kick in all three cases and only the card moves. Careless, no card. Reckless, meaning the player disregarded the danger, a caution. Excessive force or endangering the opponent's safety, a sending-off.

Common mistake: Treating the free kick and the card as two separate judgements. They come from one reading of the same challenge, which is why 'it was a foul but not a card' and 'it was a card so it must have been worse' are both confusions of the same thing.

Law3 9 11 12 13 14

Scenario 3

Shirt pull with no force in it

Foul

A defender takes a light hold of an attacker's shirt to slow them down. There is nothing careless or reckless about it.

Correct call: Direct free kick. Holding is on the second list, which is an offence however it is committed, so the careless, reckless and excessive force ladder never applies to it.

Common mistake: Playing on because the contact was minimal. Minimal contact is a reason there is no card, not a reason there is no offence.

Law15 17

Scenario 4

High boot near an opponent's head, no contact

Foul

A player raises a boot to head height to reach the ball. An opponent pulls out of the challenge and there is no contact.

Correct call: Indirect free kick for playing in a dangerous manner. With no contact there is nothing on the direct free kick list to award, and the offence is that the action threatened injury while trying to play the ball.

Common mistake: Reaching for a direct free kick because it looked dangerous. The absence of contact is exactly what puts it on the indirect list.

Law21 22 27

Scenario 5

Careless trip in the penalty area

Penalty

A defender carelessly trips an attacker inside their own penalty area with the ball in play.

Correct call: Penalty kick and no card. Tripping is on the direct free kick list, careless is enough to make it an offence, and a direct free kick offence by a defender inside their own penalty area is a penalty. Careless carries no disciplinary sanction, so the penalty is the whole punishment unless the offence also denied a goal-scoring opportunity.

Common mistake: Assuming a penalty must come with a card. The card follows the manner of the offence or what it denied, not the location of it.

Law3 10 11 12 34

The law

Law 5 · 3. Powers and duties

allows play to continue when an offence occurs, or a restart is incorrectly taken and the ball is in play, and the opposing team will benefit from the advantage, and penalises the offence/orders a retake if the anticipated advantage does not ensue at that time or within a few seconds

Law 12

Direct and indirect free kicks and penalty kicks can only be awarded for offences committed when the ball is in play.

Law 12 · 1. Direct free kick

A 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:

charges

jumps at

kicks or attempts to kick

pushes

strikes or attempts to strike (including head-butt)

tackles or challenges

trips or attempts to trip

If an offence involves contact, it is penalised by a direct free kick.

Careless is when a player shows a lack of attention or consideration when making a challenge or acts without precaution. No disciplinary sanction is needed

Reckless is when a player acts with disregard to the danger to, or consequences for, an opponent and must be cautioned

Using excessive force is when a player exceeds the necessary use of force and/or endangers the safety of an opponent and must be sent off

A direct free kick is awarded if a player commits any of the following offences:

a handball offence (except for the goalkeeper within their penalty area)

holds an opponent

impedes an opponent with contact

bites or spits at someone on the team lists or a match official

throws an object at the ball, an opponent or a match official, or makes contact with the ball with a held object

Law 12 · 2. Indirect free kick

An indirect free kick is awarded if a player:

plays in a dangerous manner

impedes the progress of an opponent without any contact being made

is guilty of dissent, using offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or action(s) or other verbal offences

prevents the goalkeeper from releasing the ball from the hands or kicks or attempts to kick the ball when the goalkeeper is in the process of releasing it

initiates a deliberate trick for the ball to be passed (including from a free kick or goal kick) to the goalkeeper with the head, chest, knee etc. to circumvent the Law, whether or not the goalkeeper touches the ball with the hands; the goalkeeper is penalised if responsible for initiating the deliberate trick

Law 12 · Playing in a dangerous manner

Playing 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.

Law 12 · Advantage

If the referee plays the advantage for an offence for which a caution/sending-off would have been issued had play been stopped, this caution/sending-off must be issued when the ball is next out of play. However, if the offence was denying the opposing team an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, the player is cautioned for unsporting behaviour, except where a goal is scored by the non-offending team as a result of the advantage having been played, in which case there is no disciplinary sanction; if the offence was interfering with or stopping a promising attack, the player is not cautioned.

Law 12 · Cautionable offences

A player is cautioned if guilty of:

persistent offences (no specific number or pattern of offences constitutes ‘persistent')

Law 12 · Sending-off offences

A player, substitute or substituted player who commits any of the following offences is sent off:

denying a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity to an opponent whose overall movement is towards the offender's goal by an offence punishable by a free kick (unless as outlined below)

Law 12 · Denying a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (DOGSO)

Where a player commits an offence against an opponent within their own penalty area which denies an opponent an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and the referee awards a penalty kick, the offender is cautioned if the offence was an attempt to play the ball or a challenge for the ball; in all other circumstances (e.g. holding, pulling, pushing, no possibility to play the ball etc.), the offending player must be sent off.

Law 14

A penalty kick is awarded if a player commits a direct free kick offence inside their penalty area or off the field as part of play as outlined in Laws 12 and 13.

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