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Before the various positions on a soccer field can be described, or indeed how teams play lets talk about the field. The field itself is called a pitch. The pitch can have a wide range of outer dimensions, however for a pitch to fall within Association Football regulations it must be:
- Between 50 and 100 yards wide
- Between 100 to 130 yards long.
All other dimensions remain static no matter what the field dimensions are. The drawing show above is in a 10:1 scale with the maximum dimensions. There are different advantages to the size of a pitch but those will be fleshed out in more detail in the tactics posts.
The circle at mid field is simply called the center circle. Sometimes on TV broadcasts this will be referred to as the “Ten yard circle.” At the very beginning of the game, after halftime or after any goals the two teams line up in near the circle with the ball on the center spot in a similar manner to a face off in hockey. This is called a kickoff. The team that lost the pre-match coin toss is given the first kickoff and the other team will have the ball after halftime. Anytime a goal is scored a kickoff is awarded to the team that was scored on.
The lines on the long side of the pitch which Americans would call side lines are called “Touch lines.” When the ball passes over the line play is considered dead. A player from the side which didn’t kick the ball out then throws it back in with a two handed over the head motion.
The sidelines that are on the north and south end of the drawing have slightly different rules and are called goal lines. If the ball goes out of play after being touched by a defending play the offence is awarded a “Corner Kick” where the ball is placed inside the area with the arches and kicked towards players who are inside the penalty area. If the ball is touched last by an offensive player and the ball goes out on the north or south end the goalie gets an unchallenged kick to boot it away from the goal.
The larger rectangles at either end of the field are called the penalty area. Should a foul be committed in this area (tripping a ball carrier, an especially hard tackle etc. ) a penalty kick will be awarded. The ball is placed at the dot inside the penalty area and the best penalty shot taker on the field at the time will get a shot 1-on-1 with the goalie. This usually results in a goal and as such penalty calls are typically some of the most controversial calls in a game. Equate it to Defensive Pass Interference in the end-zone for American football and all the vitriol that that call usually entails.
An example of one such call:
Some last minute important things:
- Nobody can use their hands except for the goalkeeper and only if he is standing in the penalty area.
- No player can advance farther down the field than the fathers back defender before the ball reaches him. This is called offside. Again sort of like the offside in hockey.
- Players can receive “Yellow” or “Red” cards for on field infractions. Yellows are awarded for a numerous amounts of reasons. Some are sliding tackles where a player more aimed for the offensive player rather than the ball or for something simple as back talking a referee. Two yellow cards Equal a “Red” card
- “Red” cards immediately send a player off the pitch for the remainder of the match. The team which lost the player cannot field someone to replace him so they must play one man down.
- The clock is never stopped. Even during injuries. When approaching half time or full time (45 minutes and 90 minutes respectively) the referee will add between 1 to 5 minutes to the game time to account for the time that was used by a player for getting off the field.
To read the official rulebook of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) go here
Be warned its 117 pages but it has some lovely drawings. Additionally it goes into much greater detail than was done so here.
Prep for the Pitch 