Purpose

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to correctly manage the mechanics of a free kick, including the required distance and common encroachment scenarios.

Lesson Explanation

Building on the direct/indirect distinction from Part 2, Lessons 1-2, Law 13 governs the practical mechanics of taking a free kick. The ball must be stationary when the kick is taken, and the kicker must not touch it again until it has touched another player.

All opponents must be at least 9.15 meters (10 yards) from the ball until it is in play, unless they are on their own goal line between the goalposts. If a free kick is awarded to the defending team inside their own penalty area, opponents must be outside the penalty area and at least 9.15m from the ball if that distance would place them inside the area; the kick may be taken without waiting for opponents to retreat the full distance if the defending team chooses to take it quickly, though the referee retains discretion here.

A genuinely important, practical restart-management skill: if an opponent fails to respect the required distance before the kick is taken, the referee stops play (if the offence clearly interferes with the restart) and cautions the offending player for failing to respect the required distance — a cautionable offence already listed in Part 2, Lesson 4 — then the free kick is retaken. If the kick is taken while an opponent is encroaching and the referee had allowed it to proceed, this is treated as accepting the quick restart, and play continues.

A free kick awarded to the attacking team inside the opponent’s penalty area is taken from any point within the area, and — genuinely important since it affects positioning discussed in Part 5 — all opponents must retreat at least 9.15m as normal, but since the penalty area itself is smaller than that distance in most directions, this often means defenders must exit the penalty area entirely to comply.

Practice Questions