Purpose

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to list the direct free kick offences under Law 12 and explain when each is penalized.

Lesson Explanation

Law 12 (Fouls and Misconduct) lists specific offences that, when committed against an opponent in a manner considered careless, reckless, or using excessive force (a standard covered fully in Part 2, Lesson 3), result in a direct free kick — meaning a goal may be scored directly from the restart, without the ball needing to touch another player first.

The core list of direct free kick offences committed against an opponent: kicking or attempting to kick; tripping or attempting to trip; jumping at; charging; striking or attempting to strike; pushing; tackling or challenging in a way that is careless, reckless, or uses excessive force.

Three further offences result in a direct free kick regardless of the careless/reckless/excessive-force standard, because they involve genuinely different conduct: holding an opponent; impeding an opponent with contact; biting or spitting at someone; and — a genuinely modern addition reflecting the game’s evolution — throwing an object at the ball, an opponent, a teammate, a match official, or another person, or making contact with the ball with a held object.

A handling offence (deliberately handling the ball, except by the goalkeeper within their own penalty area) also results in a direct free kick — covered in its own dedicated lesson (Part 2, Lesson 6) given the genuinely detailed, frequently revised nature of the current handball Law. If any direct free kick offence is committed by a defending player inside their own penalty area, the restart becomes a penalty kick instead (Part 3, Lesson 2), regardless of where the ball was at the time — only the location of the offence matters.

Practice Questions