What are the Rules of Soccer Games? Learn to Support Your Local Team!
Sports fans who are interested in soccer games but are not sure what the rules of the game are can learn everything they need to know here with Kalamazoo Football Club. Soccer is a sport with a long history, and although it has seen some changes to the rules over its lifespan, the general way of playing the game has fundamentally stayed the same for a long time.
Kalamazoo Football Club is happy to share the rules of the game with anyone who is interested in watching our games so that they might better understand the game when they come out to support us. There are a variety of rules that are involved with the game of soccer, but, when they’re laid out, it becomes simple to understand.
- The Basics
One of the first rules of soccer games you can understand is how goals are scored. A goal is scored when the ball completely crosses over the goal line inside of a team’s net. Another is how teams are set up on the field. There are 11 players on each team, including a goalie for both teams. Otherwise, the way a team is organized with attackers and defenders is up to the team itself.
- Players May Not Use Hands
Each player, except for the goalie, must only use their feet when trying to move the ball up and down the field, pass, and shoot at the net. Goalies can use their hands to try to stop goals from being scored, but they may only do so within their goal area.
- Out of Bounds: Throw-Ins
When a ball is kicked out of bounds on the sides of the field, the opposing team must do a throw-in. One player from the team picks up the ball and may throw it using their hands. As soon as the ball is back on the field, play resumes and no hands may be used once again.
- Out of Bounds: Goal and Corner Kicks
Goal kicks are performed by a defending team when the attacking team kicks the ball out of bounds behind the goal line. If the defending team is the one to kick it out, the attacking team gets to perform a corner kick as a way for the attacking team to recover their lost chance at shooting by the ball being removed from play.
- How Long is a Game?
On average, soccer is played for 90 minutes total, with the time being split into two, 45-minute halves with a break in-between. A different rule in soccer that those unfamiliar with the sport might not know is that time for fouls, breaks in play, etc. are added up and are added to the play time at the end of the 90 minutes as “extra time.”
We at Kalamazoo Football Club hope that this brief summary of the rules helps you to understand the game better. Keeping all of these in mind, you can come out and support us while enjoying the game!
