Understanding fouls and what is punishable in soccer

Rules! What would society be without them? Chaotic would be the quickest answer to this. Aside from society, rules keep sports (particularly football) orderly.

The referee – formidably equipped with a whistle, yellow, and red cards – is fundamental to keeping the game fun, orderly, competitive, and predictable for punters profiting from the best odds offered by bookmakers on liontips.ng.

But then you may have wondered what situations are infringements?

Next, which of these infringements are punishable by a yellow card and which are worth the dreaded red card? Lucky you, we are telling you all you need to know about fouls in football today.

What offences can the referee flag as foul?

In football, offences have varying severity, attracting different levels of punishment by the referee. First, they are minor offenses that are not worth punishing with a card. 

These relatively trivial offenses are just chastened with an indirect free kick (depending on the position of occurrence) awarded against the player’s side that concedes it.

Take a situation where a player mistakenly trips his opponent. 

Depending on the circumstance and the interpretation of the referee (examining whether there was a violent act or it was a mischievously conceived foul aimed at impairing the opponent), the referee may simply award a free kick. 

If such minor offenses occur in a team’s penalty box, the referee has to give a penalty kick to the other side. 

Which fouls are punishable by cards?

The foul’s severity (and intention of the player who commits it) determines if the referee would brandish a card – yellow or red.

Commonly the intensity of the foul – typified by the level of violence or forcefulness in execution – determines which card is given. 

If a referee identifies a minor foul that doesn’t interrupt the progression of the match, he may wave it off especially if the ball is yet with the side that the foul was committed against. This is called a “play on”.

Direct acts of violence like kicking an opponent off the ball can attract a yellow or red card. Aerial contests where the arm is flung too far from the body usually attract yellow cards from the referee.

If you push an opponent, the referee will exclusively analyze the situation and determine if he awards just a free kick or penalizes the act with a card.

Traditionally, pushing an opponent – and deliberately or inadvertently – denying him a promising goalscoring opportunity can result in a red card. 

Barging into an opponent is regarded as violent conduct. This inevitably attracts a free kick (or penalty kick if committed in the penalty box).

Also, when you tackle a player but make contact with the player before touching the ball, you would be penalized. No player except the goalkeeper is allowed to touch the ball with his hands. 

An occasion where a player’s hand(s) comes in contact with the ball can be whistled as handball, with a free-kick awarded. 

If the handball occurs in the penalty box, it is awarded as a penalty – especially when the player could avoid the hand contact.

When a player concedes two yellow cards in one match, the referee gives him his marching orders (a red card) upon the second yellow card. A straight red card can result in the player missing a couple of following matches. 

Foul languages – cutting across racist slurs or direct insults – can attract cards as well.

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Can the goalkeeper concede fouls?

Yes, the goalkeeper can fall short of the law in football too. Commonly, if a goalkeeper handles the ball with his hand outside his penalty box, he is penalized. He could get a card for this.

If a keeper falls a player who has evaded him with the ball in the penalty box (and could score), the keeper is penalized. He could get a red card for this and a penalty awarded.

Lastly, a goalkeeper can be penalized for wasting time. If a goalkeeper holds the ball, in his penalty box, for more than six seconds, he gets a yellow card from the referee. But this doesn’t come with a free kick or penalty awarded to the opponent.