as ‘soccer’ in North America and Football pretty much everywhere else in the world,

is a game played with two teams of 18 players, with 11 players taking the field at any one

time. The object of the game is for your team to

score more goals than the opposing team. To score a goal, you must put ball into your

opponent’s goal. For it to count, the whole of the ball must

cross the goal line. In football, you are allowed to touch the

ball with every part of your body except your arms.

The main ways to move the ball is to kick the ball to a team mate which is known as

a pass, or run with the ball whilst controlling it

with your feet, known as dribbling. When the ball is in the air, players can head

or chest the ball as well.

Teams will usually orchestrate passes and dribbles so that the ball travels up the field

so that they can score. The defending team will try and stop you by

tackling. The can intercept passes, block shots or try

and kick the ball away from you and move the ball in the other direction so that they can

score themselves. A defender must be careful here, as if the

referee decides that they made contact with the player without touching the ball, or made

contact without trying to win ball, he can award a foul against them.

Fouls usually lead to free kicks, but can also lead to a yellow card which is a warning,

or a red card where you are sent off the pitch. Two yellow cards equals one red card.

The game is played in two halves of 45 minutes, for a total playing time of 90 minutes. There’s

a 15 minute break at half time. Unlike most other sports, in football when

there is a stoppage in play - the clock does not stop.

Instead, a referee will add the amount of time all the stoppages last for, and they

will play this as ‘added time’ at the end of each half.

Highest score at the end of 90 minutes plus added time, wins.

There are ties in Football, and if both teams have the same amount of goals at the end of

time, this is declared as a draw. Football is a really simple game and that’s

basically it, but there’s a few more things you’ll need to understand before playing

or watching a game. For example.

Substitution. A team can change up to 3 players during a

game. To do this, they must inform the fourth official

of who they want to take off and who they want to put on. Only in a stoppage of play

can a substitution be made. A team cannot change a player if he has already

been sent off.

Hand ball If you happen to touch the ball with an arm,

forearm, elbow or hand, the referee will call ‘hand-ball’ against you, and possession

of the ball is awarded to the other team. If you commit a hand-ball in your own penalty

box, the other team will be awarded a penalty kick.

Penalty Kick If a defender handles the ball in the penalty

box, or brings down an attacker WITH A SCORING CHANCE in the box, the referee will award

a penalty kick to the other team. The ball will be placed on the spot and any

attacking player can try and score with one kick against the goalie.

If a shot is scored, it counts as a goal. If the shot is missed and it goes out, it’s

a goal kick, if the shot is blocked – the ball is in

play and anybody can touch it.

Throw in, goal kick, corner kick and free kick.

If the ball leaves the field of play, the ball is awarded to the team who did not touch

it last.

If the ball leaves the sides of the field, a throw in is awarded to the other team.

If you touched it last and it goes out behind your opponent’s goal line, a goal kick is

awarded to the other team. If you touched it last and it goes out behind

your own goal line, a corner kick is awarded to the other team.

In the event of a foul, a referee can award a free kick to the team who was fouled.

Off-side. Ah, the dreaded offside rule. To put it in

simple terms, Imagine a line that extends from your opponents

last defender. You cannot be past that imaginary line when

a pass is being played into you. If you are past the last defender before a

ball is passed to you, this is offside and will result in the other team being awarded

the ball. For you to be onside, you must be in front

of (or parallel) to the last defender when a pass is played towards you.

This is a lot to take in, but it’s one of the easier sports to understand.

If you watch a game or two, you’ll probably pick up the rules just after a few matches.

If you have found this video at all helpful, please like, comment, share and subscribe.

It takes me ages to make one of these things and good karma is always appreciated.

If you’re also on Reddit, you can post this video and discuss it there, but in the meantime,

enjoy football … or soccer if you prefer?!

Ninh Ly, www.ninh.co.uk, @NinhLyUK