Duration: 90 min ( 2 x 45 min )
Players: 11 in each team
Objective: to score as many goals as possible using any part of the body but the hands. Any player can score a goal.
Referee: the one who enforces the rules
Foul & misconduct
when a player hits another, three things may happen:
1]Free kick
2] Free kick + card ( Yellow= beware! Red = you are out! )
3] Penalty kick = if a defender uses the hand or if the foul happens in the marked area around the goal (white lines above). In this case, the ball is placed in a mark in front of the goalkeeper. When the penalty kick is taken, the only two players in the box are the penalty taker and the defending team’s goalkeeper. Everyone else must be outside the white lines.
The only complicated rule
The offside – when the striker is closer to the opposing team’s goal than that team’s last defender. Meaning: you need an adversary to make it worth your effort!
{ 97 comments… read them below or add one }
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Sir Paulo,
Thanks for a wopnderful piece. I cant believe, i actually read a piece on sports (football on top of that!!). I read it thrice to be honest. I am just blown away by that last line – “you need an adversary….”..Pearl of wisdom even in this peice….your wrirtings are like Bhagwat Geeta…
Salute…
Vijay
Hahaha… you have my mind on offside rule. I still do not comprehend it.. why o why?
good information for those who dont understand Fball.
Awesome summary! WELL DONE for coming up with a 20sec “Soccer For Dummies” (how kind of you to wish to help those who do not understand it)!!!!
~ Much love & light, always! :) ~
“using any part of the body but the hands” well, true at times when the referee falls blind to some so-called hand-of-gods. lol.
I always loved soccer..since i was younger i remember i followed Netherland’s (Hooland) team in every game.. i loved Dennis Bergkamp and the twins De Boer (i remember Frank , not the other twin though…)…
ANyway, this is perfect! you described offside in such a simple way that when i was younger i should have asked YOU AND NOT the others who always answered in the complicated way!
Love and GraDitude
Annie
and why i followed them? well..it’s silly but most of the time they were wearing orange outfits… ;o)
Very easy very simple, playing football make us human<
The last rule of the off-side should be trained to the most of people drinking life like a vodka PLEASE Consider your life that holly gift from God.
Hello Sir,
I think, in the offside rule, you have to include the ball also. If the ball is present between the striker & goalpost, then it is not offside. If the ball is not present, ie, if the striker runs to the goalpost ahead of the ball & the defender, then it is offside. Kindly correct me if I am wrong.
you are right, but the basics is what I wrote.
Very nice!
In The Netherlands we have another definition of soccer though:
“A game with 22 players, and after 90 minutes Germany wins.”
;o)
Oh yes – I am German but I can not follow your definition. Last match vs. Serbia was too bad. But after all it’s a game and may the best win!
Can you make the picture clickable. Cant read the text.
I like the thought, it requires an adversary to make it worth the effort. Someone put some thought into making the rules of the game. Now I am interested in football.
Games are become most enjoyable when played with in the specified rules and that is how the spirit of the game wins !
thanks a lot……u r versatile
I think you should send this to the French soccer team as I think they’ve forgotten the concept :)
HAHAHA I LIKE YOUR COMMENT
I’ french and ashamed of my foot ball team.you’re wright sorry to give such an image oh our country.may be they earn too much money
ahhh!
soccer in a nutshell.
at the end: a PC-teaching:
“you need an adversary to make it worth your effort!”
not even in this post we get a break from self-realization.
permanent teachings: yeash!
Haha very funny :-)
Some players use their hand to score a goal and if the referee didn’t see that and the goal was accepted, they say later it was God’s hand :-D.
Anyway I guess I am one of the few men on this planet who is not really interested in soccer! My friends make fun of me and put it scientifically by saying I am a “knockout” for the soccer-gene! which means that during my personal evolution I lost the soccer-gene that is common between men :-)
Still, good luck to the team that is playing better…
eheheh cool stuff…
i played soccer for almost all my life, last night i had a match, tonite i got another tournament match and another game on thursday!!! in italy 90% of the guys played at least once soccer in their life!!! if some of u guys live in italy and wants to see me play, u r more than welcome!!! i live in Lucca!!!
hope i can watch a world cup final with italy and brazil, the 2 countries that won more world cups than anyone else, but this time its tough for our azzurri!!!
good luck in the cup paulo, hope we can “see” each other in the final!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
good luck to your in ur game, and Italy in world cup
Great Idea Paulo!
But offside is not only when the striker is closer to the opposing team’s goal than that team’s last defender.
A player is in an offside position if he is in his opponents’ half of the field and is closer to his opponents’ goal line than both the ball and all but zero or one of his opponents!
A great hug and a great thanks: your books change my life!
Marco
I don’t like that people call it soccer…
I prefer calling it european football ;-)
how much does it matter..its the same thing..wat’s in a name?
The rest of us just call it football… Whether in Asia, Africa or South America…
THANK YOU Paulo for explaining it in a simple way! I have a Portuguese boyfriend who is insisting I follow Portugal games, and support them. And this being my first time that I follow the world cup, it has been quite difficult for me to understand what’s really going on there.
But I finally got the basics.. Thank you for that..
And btw.. Força Portugal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :P
Oh, I dont like soccer…When they advertise tv that give free direct football games, I feel no interest. I used rarely to watch some matches, long ago, but since our national team lose all games, but individual players have great results abroad for more money, I cant watch the matches anymore.
Thank you for posting simple rules for even blonds to understand ;-)
I am watching the world cup for the first time in my life. It is fun and I am please at the outcomes so far. This game takes a lot of heart and the teams with the most heart will rise to the top.
You have taught me…now it is my turn to teach you about Am. Football. The best way to learn is to start by playing a little flag football, which I still do… a fun version to play in a backyard or park. Are you game?
Love and the joy of foot sports to your steps,
Lainee
Thank you, dearest Paulo Coelho, for the rules given! I have heard them so many times but never managed to learn them.. Every time I happen to watch a match, I always ask in the ..crucial moments ‘what happened’???? Well I understand the goals! Good luck for Brazil!
LOVE,
Thelma xxx
That was enlightening =) Maybe even worth turning into an e-card, just a thought ;)
arriba Brazil!
Nice addition to the blog. Yellow Card, Red Card I can tell a player has done something wrong but what it means was always unclear.
I think soccer’s popularity is due to its simplicity. I don’t remember where I read this quote by Einstein: God always takes the simplest way. Soccer is so simple and so beautiful I consider it divine.
Leveiiiiiii anos pra entender a regra IMPEDIMENTO. Uma ajudante baiana…louca por futebol que me ensinou…saudades da Vera!
Excellent effort.
..”using any part of the body but the hands”
Arms are out too, not just hands.
warm regards
The front of the shoulder is considered part of the hands, too.
Also, I would say that one answer to “Why the offside rule?” is that it makes the competition more “wide open” and interesting by preventing teams from assigning gangs of players to loiter by the opponent’s goal.
Good one We are very proud here in New Zealand that they had a draw against Italy in the world cup. Yahoo and Holland is going well too. Brazil is going to be a tough one though Great team
thank you! and yea, i agree with the only complicated rule ^^
Hehehe…Obrigada pelos bons ensinamentos Paulo!! Confesso que, embora não seja americana, eu ate então não sabia nem metade das regras que vc colocou…
Oque eu sei é que o Brasil vai ganhar na sexta!! ;)
Bjos e otima semana!!
Amor, respeito, gratidão…
Ca
This is so adorable!!!
:D thank you!
xxoo
Só não há como explicar o amor que nós brasileiros temos pelo futebol. Ou tem?
Vc podia tentar Guerreiro!
Bjos!
Vai Brasil, rumo ao Hexa!
Ótimo explicação. Só um brasileiro pra explicar de forma tão clara. :-)
Amo as frases do “A vida é como futebol”.
E obrigada pelo apoio ao Dunga, ele é mesmo um vencedor, independente do resultado dessa Copa.
Deus te ilumine Guerreiro!
ps- gosto da foto do warriors , vc com um cachecol vermelho ficou gatinho.
bjos
Hihihi excellent!
Hi Paulo!
Your Soccer 101 is fabulous. Simple rules, but oh so complicated in the heat of the moment during a match. Allow me to connect this a little bit to American football. Watch this clip where Mr John Cleese tries to point out the difference between soccer and football;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sD_8prYOxo&feature=youtu.be
He claims; ‘Soccer never caught on in America’. This is not quite true, as millions of young Americans in fact do play soccer. The expression ‘soccer mom’ is a proof of how popular soccer is on the amateur level also in the USA. Cleese then goes on to mock American football for having so many breaks through the game, and he believes this is to fit in all the beer commercials. American football is much more a strategic war-game, if you wish, and the reason the game stops, is for the players to get back to the start line within 2 minutes. The commercials was added only in recent years.
Yes, professional American football is more popular in America than soccer. Americans are proud of their football, and see it as a kind of a Gladiator game, where they so to speak fight to kill. Some Americans would say soccer is for wussies! Yes, I pretty much watch the World-cup alone in our house, but I am excited to see there is a group in Phoenix working to get Soccer World-cup to America in 2018 or 2022.
Let me also mention, in American football, because of so much upset with unfit referees, often during a game they do a review of certain controversial decisions made by any referee. And, if the panel find the referee made a mistake, they change the decision. In this sense, the game is more fair, and no referees dare to take side in a game anymore. Yes, unfair might be part of life, and something we have to accept, but why not work for more justice also in the soccer arena?
Thank you for sharing your soccer enthusiasm with us. It is great fun!
Heart
I would scrap offside rule. It would made it a very simple game and we would have more goals. Why not? Shall we start the campaign here?
A respeito da regra do impedimento, mais precisamente são os dois últimos jogadores (incluindo o goleiro) do time adversário e não o último defensor. Visto que é possível ter um zagueiro em cima da linha do gol e o adversário estar impedido por ter o goleiro saído (para cortar um cruzamento, por exemplo) e ter sido esse zagueiro o único entre o atacante e o gol no momento do passe.
impedimento, a regra mais complicada, eu procurei simplificar da melhor maneira. Pensei em colocar “dois jogadores” mas como raramente o que voce descreveu acontece, achei melhor assim
..from Toronto with Love..nice day when you first..Brasil must win but they too over self-reliant..sorry
V
nice
Paulo,
Nunca vi uma explicação tão brilhante e exata
hOY APRENDI QUE PARA SACAR PENALTI EXISTE UN PUNTO DONDE SIEMPRE SE COLOCA EL BALÓN.
ME PONE TENSA EL FUTBOL PERO ASÍ ES EL JUEGO.
UN BESO
Only you to do such a job! Thank you so much for making my life easier! Now I’ll be able to send this link to all my
American friends and they will now what we’re talking about!
=)
Countdown to Aleph…
Paulo Coelho, you forgot to mention that is known as “The Beautiful Game ”
abs.
nice and simple! love it!
Coorection : offside rule from wikipedia “the player must be on the opposing team’s half of the field. Second, the player must be in front of the ball. And third, there must be fewer than two opposing players between him and the opposing goal line, with the goalkeeper counting as an opposing player for these purposes”
it is the same thing I said, but in a much complicated way
Útil, muito bem escrito e interessante para lembrar que nem em todo o mundo o nosso futebol e suas regras, principalmente, são conhecidas e aprecidos.
PS.: Faltou lateral, escanteio e tiro de meta.
isso existe tambem em outros jogos, portanto acho que deduzirão
Excelente esse 101!
I think that today it’s appropriate to send this 101 to any known North-Korean!
lol
aww mr.Choelho youre the cutest =)
more complicated ??? or in a simpler way ???
Nop. the rule you stated say “last defender” but the correct rule is “last two player (the goalkeeper may be included)”
Just a little important detail about affside.. to the cited offside definition from wikipedia should be added “at the moment the ball is played (or touched) by one of his team”
And it all become more complicated with the “active” and passive “passive” offfside
Eu nao tenho ideia!!!
Dear Paulo,
only you could force me to read about football:)
Thank you for information.
I will use oportunity to ask you about mail I have sent you on adress:card@paulocoelho.com.br and to ask you about adress with which I could make contact with you.
Than you in advance,
Biljana
my office will forward it to me asap.
the last 2 defenders. But to cut a long story short, I put the last defender, considering that the goalkeeper is normally in front of the goal.
It is hard to accept one’s mistakes Mr. Cohelo, isn’t it so?
Hahaha, it might have something to do with some important matches The Netherlands played against Germany in the 70′s and 80′s :-)
It’s a running gag over here, out of respect for the effectiveness of Der Mannschaft. (and a lot of jealousy of all the titles they’ve won!)
I wish the German team all the best though! Enjoy the World Cup!!
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