Basic Tactics: The positions

Now that we know the rules, let's expand our knowledge. I'm going to start talking about the different positions on a soccer team. In this article, we'll talk about how positions are defined, and very briefly describe each of the basic positions. Then, we'll expand in a series of articles that talk in greater depth about what each position does, what kind of attributes you need to play that position, etc.

Laws 15 - 17: Throw-ins, goal kicks, and corners

Law 15: Throw-ins

A throw-in is taken when the ball crosses one of the touchlines and goes out of play. The team that kicked the ball out of play loses possession of the ball, and the other side gets to take a throw-in. During a throw-in, a designated player stands out of bounds and, as the name suggests, throws the ball back into play. This is the only time during play that a non-goalkeeper may touch the ball with their hands. Opposing players must stand at least two meters away from the player taking the throw-in. The player who throws the ball in cannot touch it again until it touches at least one other player (so they can't throw it to themselves). Lastly a player cannot score a goal by throwing the ball into the opposing net.

Laws 12 - 14: Fouls and Penalties

I'm going to close up this series with an article about how fouls work in soccer, along with free kicks and penalties, which come as the result of a rules violation. We'll finish with one last article describing the last couple of laws.

Unlike most sports, soccer fouls are a little hard to define. For example, American football gives a name to every type of penalty, and basketball has a lot of names for foul types. Not so for soccer. Instead, fouls are given for specific actions and are grouped by the type of benefit given to the fouled team.

Law 11: Offside

Unfortunately, the offside rule is probably the single hardest rule to wrap one's head around. I'm going to describe  the official wording of the rule, then run through some examples of what is and is not offside using diagrams.

Laws 9 & 10: The ball out of play, and the method of scoring

Law 9:

This one is an easy one. A ball is considered to have gone out of play if it completely crosses either the touchline or the byline. Players can go out of bounds if they wish while in position of the ball, but cannot let the ball cross the line. If the ball cross a touchline, the opposing side takes a throw-in. If the ball crosses the byline, a corner or goal kick is taken.


Law 10: The method of scoring

A ball is considered scored if it completely crosses the goal line and enters the goal. If any part of the ball is over the goal line, it is not considered a goal.

Over the last 5-10 years, professional soccer has experimented with goal line technology, which uses a chip inside of the ball to determine when the goal line has been crossed. This technology is not widely used in the sport yet.

Laws seven & eight: The length of a match, and restarting play

Law 7

One of the things that I love most about the sport of soccer is that compared to essentially every other sport, a match starts when it's supposed to and ends within the actual time limit. The reason for this is that unlike other sports, the clock never stops in a soccer match, and so there are never pauses for commercials, never endless halves that go on and on because of timeouts, etc.

Laws five & six: The officials

A soccer match is officiated by at least one and up to four officials.  The main official is called the referee; his or her two assistants are called the assistant referees, and occasionally at the highest levels of play, a fourth official is a part of the crew.

Laws three & four: Players & Safety

Law three: Players

A professional match is played by two teams of up to 11 players; 11 on each side. If at any time a side has fewer than 7 players on the pitch, the match is ended.

In addition to the 11 starters, each team can nominate substitutes to their bench. For international matches, 6 subs can be named; for most professional matches, 7 substitutes can be named to the bench.

During the match, up to three substitutions can be made. Players subbed out cannot return to the match, meaning that at least 8 players will end up having to play the entire match, barring injuries. Subs can only be made during stoppage of play. Subs can also be made in case of injury, however if a team has used all 3 of their subs, they cannot bring on a new player, even in case of injury. A sub can also be made in case of a sending off.

Law four: Safety and equipment

During a match, player equipment includes a numbered jersey, shorts, cleats (sometimes called boots), stockings, and shin guards. Collectively, this equipment is called the player's kit. No other pads or equipment are worn. Each of the ten outfield players must wear the same kit, while each side's goalkeeper must wear a unique uniform in order to mark them out as the goalkeeper. Goalkeepers may also wear large, over-sized gloves.

Players who aren't wearing the appropriate kit can be sent off, or can be disallowed from play.

Laws One & Two: The field & the ball

In this series, we'll review the official laws of the game one or two at a time. Soccer has 17 official laws on the books (compare to American Football, which has over 300 rules and 10 rules about how to place a dead ball alone). The first two laws concern the rules for the field, and the rules for the ball.