The Basics

 Soccer, known as football or some variety of the word in virtually every part of the world is vastly considered the world's sport , but not for Americans. Today we will be covering the basic rules of the beautiful game.

Image Courtesy of VI Images

"Football is a simple game, it's just very hard to play it simple."

Soccer is a growing sport , and it is definitely overshadowed by baseball , basketball , and football here in the states. Many consider it to be boring, as there is no timeouts or a commercial break every 5 minutes , as well as the fact that it is not a very high scoring sport on average. 

Before we begin discussing the intricacies and news of the world of soccer, we need to establish a base.

We will be covering soccer on a professional level , and the dimensions of the field , as well as the size of the ball and players on the field change as you move down in age and playing level. A professional field can be anywhere from 50-100 yards wide , and 100-130 yards in length. The ball used is a 'size 5' and it typically has a circumference of 27 to 28 inches. Surprisingly, a size 5 ball is used from ages 12 and up in organized games, meaning you play with the same size ball for most of your life if you become a professional. 

Soccer has two main rules:

1. You can't touch the ball with your hands if the ball is in play , unless you are the goalkeeper, and if you are the goalkeeper , you cannot touch the ball with your hands if a player from your own team passes it back to you. 

2. The 'offsides' rule. This rule is much more complicated than the handball rule , and I like many other soccer fans have a hard time explaining it to someone new. In simple terms, if a player receives the ball from a teammate in the opposing team's half, but any part of their body is ahead of the line of the last defender, not including the goalkeeper, it is considered an offence. When there is an offside position , the play stops and the opposing team gets the ball. 

According to FIFA , soccer has no 'rules' , instead they are called 'laws' , but for our sake we will call them rules because that's what they are. There are seventeen in total , but the two mentioned above are the ones that affect the game the most , and they're all you need to know in order to enjoy watching a game of soccer. Even most soccer players , on any level , do not know all seventeen rules. 

Now that you know the basics, you may enjoy soccer more the next time you see it on TV, or show off to your friends that you know what the offside rule is!