⚽ Football, explained
Two teams of 11 try to kick or head a ball into the opposing goal; most goals after 90 minutes wins.
What am I watching?
A football match is two teams of 11 players (including one goalkeeper each) trying to put the ball into the opponent's goal, using any part of the body except the hands and arms — only the goalkeeper may handle the ball, and only inside their own penalty area. The match runs for two halves of 45 minutes plus added time, the clock never stops, and the team with more goals at the end wins. Draws are common and, in league play, perfectly normal results.
The game flows almost continuously: teams pass the ball to keep possession, probe for openings, and try to create shooting chances, while the other side defends in an organised shape and looks to win the ball back and counter-attack. Play only stops for fouls, the ball going out (throw-in, corner, or goal kick), goals, and injuries. Because goals are rare — a typical match has two or three — every clear chance is a big moment, and a single goal can decide the game.
To enjoy it beyond the goals, watch the shape of the two teams: where the defensive line is, whether a team presses high up the pitch or drops into a low block, and how they build attacks — patient passing through midfield, quick counter-attacks, or crosses to a striker. Watch the full-backs pushing forward, the battle in central midfield, and set pieces (corners and free kicks), which produce a large share of goals. Commentators will reference formations like 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 — these describe the rows of defenders, midfielders, and forwards in front of the goalkeeper.
How scoring works
A goal is scored when the whole of the ball crosses the goal line between the goalposts and under the crossbar, provided no offence (such as offside or a foul) was committed in the build-up. A goal counts the same however it is scored — a tap-in, a 30-yard screamer, a header, or an own goal by the defending team all add exactly one to the score. There is no other way to score in football; the winner is simply the team with more goals when the referee ends the match.
Many goals come from open play — passing moves, counter-attacks, crosses, and individual dribbles — but a large share come from set pieces: corners, free kicks, and penalties. A penalty kick, awarded for a foul or handball by the defending team inside its own penalty area, is a free shot from the penalty mark with only the goalkeeper to beat, and is converted roughly three-quarters of the time at professional level.
In league competitions a match can end in a draw, and teams earn 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a loss; the season table is decided on total points. In knockout competitions a winner must be found: if the tie is level after 90 minutes (or after both legs of a two-legged tie, added together as an aggregate score), the teams typically play 30 minutes of extra time, and if still level, a penalty shootout decides who advances.
- One goal = 1; the whole ball must cross the goal line between the posts and under the bar.
- Only the goalkeeper can use hands, and only inside their own penalty area.
- League matches: win = 3 points, draw = 1 point, loss = 0 points.
- A penalty kick is awarded for a defending-team offence inside its own penalty area.
- Goals scored from offside positions or after a foul in the build-up are disallowed.
- Knockout ties level after 90 minutes usually go to extra time (2 x 15 min), then a penalty shootout.
- In two-legged ties the scores of both matches are added; the higher aggregate wins.
- You cannot score directly from a throw-in or (into the opponents' goal) from an indirect free kick.
Formats
League (round-robin)
Knockout (single match)
Two-legged tie
Group stage + knockout
Extra time and penalty shootout
The rules
The pitch, the ball, and the teams
Football is played on a rectangular grass (or approved artificial) pitch with a goal centred on each goal line. Goals are 7.32 m wide and 2.44 m high. Key markings include the halfway line and centre circle, the penalty area (the large box extending 16.5 m from each goalpost), the smaller goal area inside it, the penalty mark 11 m from the goal line, and corner arcs. Pitch sizes vary within limits set by the Laws — roughly 100-110 m long and 64-75 m wide for international matches.
Each team has 11 players on the pitch, one of whom is the goalkeeper — the only player allowed to handle the ball, and only inside their own penalty area. A match cannot continue if a team has fewer than 7 players.
Substitutions
Most top competitions allow each team 5 substitutions per match (plus one more in extra time), made at a maximum of 3 stoppages in play (half-time does not count as one). A substituted player takes no further part — there is no re-entry. Many competitions also permit additional concussion substitutes.
Match duration and added time
A match lasts two halves of 45 minutes with a half-time interval of no more than 15 minutes. The clock runs continuously; instead of stopping it, the referee adds time at the end of each half ('added' or 'stoppage' time) to compensate for substitutions, injuries, goal celebrations, VAR checks, and time-wasting. The fourth official displays the minimum added time, and the referee may extend it further.
League matches that end level are draws. In knockout football, competition rules decide what happens next — usually extra time of two 15-minute halves and, if still level, a penalty shootout.
Starting and restarting play
Each half, and play after every goal, begins with a kick-off from the centre spot; a goal may be scored directly from kick-off. When the ball wholly crosses a boundary line, play restarts depending on where and off whom it went out.
Throw-in
When the ball crosses a touchline, the opposing team throws it back in with both hands from behind and over the head, both feet on or behind the line. A goal cannot be scored directly from a throw-in, and a player cannot be offside from one.
Goal kick and corner kick
If the attacking team puts the ball over the goal line (without scoring), the defenders restart with a goal kick from their goal area. If a defender puts it over their own goal line, the attackers get a corner kick from the corner arc on that side — a prime goal-scoring set piece. A goal may be scored directly from a corner.
Dropped ball
When play is stopped for reasons the Laws don't otherwise cover (e.g. referee interference or injury), it restarts with an uncontested dropped ball to the team that last touched it — or to the goalkeeper if play stopped inside the penalty area.
Offside (Law 11)
A player is in an offside position if any part of their head, body, or feet is in the opponents' half and nearer to the opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent (usually the last outfield defender, since the goalkeeper is normally the last). The hands and arms are not counted. Being level with the second-last opponent is onside.
Being in an offside position is not itself an offence. A player is only penalised if, at the moment a teammate plays the ball, they are in an offside position and then become involved — by playing the ball, interfering with an opponent (e.g. blocking the keeper's line of vision), or gaining an advantage from a rebound. The sanction is an indirect free kick to the defending team.
There is no offside from a goal kick, corner kick, or throw-in, and a player deliberately playing the ball (as judged by the referee) can reset the situation. Defences exploit the law with a high line and 'offside trap', stepping up together to catch attackers off; attackers beat it with timed runs behind the line.
Fouls, handball, and misconduct
Careless, reckless, or excessively forceful challenges — kicking, tripping, pushing, holding, charging, or striking an opponent — are fouls punished by a direct free kick (or a penalty kick if committed by the defending team in its own penalty area). It is a handball offence when a player deliberately touches the ball with the hand or arm, or scores or creates a chance immediately after the ball touches their hand/arm, or when their arm makes the body unnaturally bigger.
Lesser offences — dangerous play without contact, impeding without contact, or the goalkeeper handling a deliberate back-pass from a teammate's foot — are punished with an indirect free kick, from which a goal cannot be scored without another player touching the ball first.
Yellow and red cards
A yellow card is a caution for offences like reckless fouls, dissent, time-wasting, shirt-removal celebrations, or tactical ('professional') fouls. Two yellows in one match equal a red. A straight red card — for serious foul play, violent conduct, spitting, offensive language, or denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (DOGSO) by foul or deliberate handball — means the player is sent off, cannot be replaced, and their team plays the rest of the match a player short, plus a suspension in following matches.
Advantage
If a foul occurs but the fouled team keeps a promising attack, the referee can play 'advantage' — letting play continue instead of stopping it — and may still book the offender at the next stoppage.
Free kicks and penalties
Direct free kicks (a goal may be scored directly) are awarded for fouls and handball; indirect free kicks for technical offences and offside. Opponents must retreat at least 9.15 m (10 yards) from the ball, which is why defending teams form a 'wall' of players against dangerous free kicks near their box.
A penalty kick is awarded when a direct-free-kick offence is committed by a team inside its own penalty area. The ball is placed on the penalty mark, 11 m from goal; only the kicker and the goalkeeper are involved, with everyone else outside the area and behind the ball. The goalkeeper must have at least part of one foot on or level with the goal line when the kick is taken. In normal play, the kicker may score from a rebound off the keeper or the woodwork; in a shootout, the kick is over once saved or missed.
The goalkeeper's special rules
The goalkeeper may handle the ball only inside their own penalty area — handling it outside is a foul like any outfield handball. Even inside the area, the keeper may not handle a ball deliberately kicked to them by a teammate (the 'back-pass rule') or received directly from a teammate's throw-in; doing so gives the opponents an indirect free kick. Under the current Laws the keeper must release the ball within 8 seconds of controlling it in the hands, otherwise the opponents are awarded a corner kick. Goalkeepers can score, take penalties, and join attacks — some sides use a 'sweeper keeper' who plays far off the line as an extra outfield passer.
VAR — the Video Assistant Referee
In competitions that use it (including the EPL, UCL, World Cup, La Liga, and the ISL), the VAR reviews decisions using broadcast footage and communicates with the on-field referee. VAR may only intervene for a 'clear and obvious error' or a 'serious missed incident' in four match-changing situations: goal/no goal (including offside and fouls in the build-up), penalty/no penalty, direct red cards, and mistaken identity.
The referee can accept the VAR's information or conduct an on-field review at the pitchside monitor; the final decision always remains the referee's. Factual calls like offside are decided by the VAR's line technology — many top competitions now use semi-automated offside. Separately, goal-line technology instantly signals to the referee's watch whether the whole ball crossed the line.
Deciding tied knockout matches
When a knockout match (or the aggregate of a two-legged tie) is level and a winner is required, teams play extra time: two halves of 15 minutes, played in full — there is no golden goal in the modern Laws. If still level, a penalty shootout follows: teams alternate kicks from the penalty mark, best of five; if level after five each, it continues one round at a time in sudden death until one team scores and the other misses. Only players on the pitch at the final whistle may take part, and every eligible player must kick before anyone kicks twice. Shootout goals do not count in the match score — the result is recorded as a draw decided on penalties.
In two-legged ties, the scores of both legs are added together as the aggregate. Since UEFA abolished the away-goals rule in 2021, a level aggregate goes straight to extra time and penalties at the end of the second leg.
Glossary — 40 terms
Stats decoded
| Stat | Unit | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Goals | count | Goals scored — the game's currency. For players, 20+ in a European league season is elite for a striker; for teams, season totals separate title contenders from the pack. |
| xG (expected goals) | probability sum | The summed goal probability of all shots taken, based on chance quality (distance, angle, assist type). Comparing goals to xG reveals hot finishing or bad luck; comparing team xG for and against is the best single read on underlying performance. |
| xA (expected assists) | probability sum | The xG value of shots created by a player's passes. It measures chance creation independent of teammates' finishing — the fairest way to compare playmakers. |
| Possession | % | Share of in-play time (or passes) a team has the ball. Dominant sides often hold 60%+, but possession is a style indicator, not a scoreboard — counter-attacking teams win plenty of matches with 35%. |
| Pass accuracy | % | Completed passes as a share of attempted. Top possession teams complete 88-92%; the number must be read with risk in mind — defence-splitting passers often show lower accuracy than sideways recyclers. |
| Shots on target | count | Shots that would enter the goal if not saved (blocks and misses excluded). Roughly a third of on-target shots become goals, so it's a quick proxy for genuine threat within a match. |
| Big chances created | count | Situations where the receiving player would reasonably be expected to score, such as one-on-ones and close-range chances. A cleaner threat measure than raw shot counts, which pile up from long range. |
| Key passes | count | Passes that directly lead to a shot (an assist is a key pass that leads to a goal). Two or more per game marks an elite creator over a season. |
| Tackles won | count | Challenges in which the tackler wins the ball. Read alongside interceptions and team style — a high-possession team's defenders tackle less because they defend less. |
| Interceptions | count | Times a player cuts out an opponent's pass. A hallmark of defenders and midfielders who read the game, and a key input to measuring pressing and defensive positioning. |
| Clean sheets | count | Matches without conceding. Around 15 or more in a 38-game league season is title-defence territory; the EPL's Golden Glove goes to the goalkeeper with the most. |
| Save percentage | % | Saves divided by on-target shots faced; 70%+ over a season is strong. Modern analysis prefers post-shot xG minus goals conceded, which adjusts for the difficulty of the shots faced. |
| PPDA | passes per defensive action | Opponent passes allowed per defensive action in the attacking zones — the standard pressing-intensity metric. Under ~10 signals an aggressive high press; high values indicate a team content to sit in a block. |
| Duels won | % | Share of one-on-one contests won, on the ground and in the air. Aerial-duel percentage is especially telling for centre-backs and target forwards contesting long balls and set pieces. |
| Distance covered | km | Ground covered per match — outfield players typically run 9-12 km. High-intensity sprint distance matters more than the raw total, reflecting pressing effort and repeated runs in behind. |
Quick answers
How does the offside rule work in football?
A player is in an offside position when any part of their head, body, or feet is in the opponents' half and closer to the opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent (usually the last outfield defender). Arms and hands don't count, and being level is onside. It only becomes an offence if, when a teammate plays the ball, the player in that position gets involved — by playing the ball, blocking an opponent, or profiting from a rebound. There's no offside from throw-ins, corners, or goal kicks. The punishment is an indirect free kick to the defending team.
What is xG in football?
xG (expected goals) estimates how likely each shot is to be scored, on a scale from 0 to 1, using factors like distance, angle, body part, and how the chance was created. A close-range tap-in might be 0.9 xG; a hopeful 30-yarder 0.03. Adding up a team's xG over a match shows who created the better chances regardless of the final score, and comparing a player's actual goals to their xG shows whether they're finishing above or below expectation. It has become the standard measure of underlying performance in football analytics.
What can VAR check and overturn?
VAR can only intervene in four situations: goals (checking for offside, fouls, handball, or the ball out of play in the build-up), penalty decisions, direct red cards, and cases of mistaken identity. Even then, the bar is a 'clear and obvious error' or a serious incident the officials missed — VAR is not meant to re-referee marginal calls. The on-field referee makes the final decision, often after reviewing footage on a pitchside monitor, and factual offside calls are drawn with calibrated lines or semi-automated tracking.
What happens if a football match ends in a draw?
It depends on the competition. In leagues like the EPL, La Liga, or the ISL league stage, a draw stands and both teams take 1 point. In knockout football, a winner is needed: most competitions play extra time — two full halves of 15 minutes — and if the score is still level, a penalty shootout: best of five kicks each, then sudden death. In two-legged knockout ties, the two scores are combined into an aggregate, and only if the aggregate is level after the second leg do extra time and penalties follow.
How long is a football match?
Ninety minutes, split into two 45-minute halves with a half-time break of up to 15 minutes. The clock never stops, so the referee adds 'stoppage time' at the end of each half to cover substitutions, injuries, goals, and VAR checks — commonly 1-5 minutes, sometimes more. Including the interval and added time, a match takes around two hours in real time; knockout games that go to extra time and penalties can stretch past two and a half.
What is the difference between a direct and an indirect free kick?
From a direct free kick, the taker can score immediately — these are awarded for fouls (kicking, tripping, holding, pushing) and handball, and become a penalty kick if the defending team commits the offence inside its own penalty area. An indirect free kick requires the ball to touch another player before a goal can count, and is awarded for technical offences like offside, dangerous play without contact, or the goalkeeper handling a teammate's deliberate back-pass. Referees signal an indirect free kick by holding an arm straight up.
Why do players get yellow and red cards?
A yellow card is a formal caution — for reckless fouls, tactical fouls that stop a promising attack, dissent, time-wasting, or removing the shirt while celebrating. A second yellow in the same match becomes a red. A straight red card is for the worst offences: serious foul play (like a studs-up lunge), violent conduct, spitting, abusive language, or denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by foul or deliberate handball. A red-carded player is sent off and cannot be replaced, leaving their team a player short, and suspensions carry into following matches.
How does a penalty shootout work?
Teams alternate penalty kicks from the 11-metre mark, five each, with only the goalkeeper defending. If one team builds an unassailable lead (say 3-0 after three kicks each), it ends early. Level after five kicks each, the shootout goes to sudden death: one kick per team per round until someone scores and the other misses. Only players on the pitch at the end of extra time can take part, and no player kicks twice until all eligible teammates have gone. Shootout goals don't count in the match score — the result is a draw, decided on penalties.
What does 'aggregate' mean in the Champions League?
Champions League knockout ties (before the final) are played over two legs, one at each team's home ground, and the scores are added together into an aggregate. Win 2-1 away and draw 1-1 at home, and you go through 3-2 on aggregate. Since UEFA abolished the away-goals rule in 2021, away goals no longer break ties — if the aggregate is level after the second leg, the teams play extra time and, if needed, a penalty shootout.
Which are the biggest football leagues and tournaments to follow from India?
The FIFA World Cup, held every four years, is the sport's biggest event, and the UEFA Champions League is the top club competition, with midweek matches through the European season. Among domestic leagues, the English Premier League and Spain's La Liga command the largest Indian audiences, with matches in India-friendly evening time slots. At home, the Indian Super League (ISL) is the country's top division, featuring clubs like Mohun Bagan Super Giant, East Bengal, Bengaluru FC, and Kerala Blasters — and the Kolkata Derby is Indian football's marquee fixture.