The beautiful game

Football

By Nathan

Formation

The field consists of 11 players on each side. The most common formation is 4-4-2. 2 attackers, 4 midfielders, 4 defenders, and 1 goalkeeper.

Rules and Regulations Fouls:• Kicking, punching, pushing, spitting and tripping• If you tackle the player before you touch the ball, it is considered a foul• Hand ball• Invalid throw-in• Swearing, insulting, or abusing the referee• OffsidesVery bad fouls will result in red cards, fairly bad will result in yellow cards, and small fouls will result in just a foul so the other team gets the ball. If you get two yellow cards, you will be suspended and not eligible for a certain amount of matches, a red card will mean that you will be suspended for a longer period of time and an instant sending off.

Positions

Attacker (striker): Stays on the oppositions side of the field most of the time, and is the main goal scorer on the team.Midfielder: Responsible for playing the ball around and helping out both in attack and defense.Defender: Prevents the other team from scoring goals.

Offside

An offside occurs when a player passes the ball to his teammate, but his teammate is past the last defender of the opposition. The player has to be in front of the defenders on the opposite team when the ball is passed, not when the ball is received.

RefereesThere are four referees on the pitch at one time:Referee 1 (linesman): He/she calls the things that happen from a side view on their side of the field (off sides, goals, and if they get the better angle to the foul, they can call it.) Referee 2 (linesman): Does the same thing as the first linesman except on the other side of the field.Main referee: He/she makes all of the calls for the fouls, penalties, free kicks, etc. For the whole game, he/she runs around with the play, and if the ball happens to hit him/her, it will be considered part of the game and the play will continue.Fourth official: He/she has the smallest job, all they have to do is handle the substitutions from both teams and hold up the added on time at the end of each half.

PenaltiesWhen an opposing player fouls you in their box, you will be awarded with a penalty. Penalties are spot kicks taken from 12 yards from the goal line on the white dot. All players must be standing behind the kick taker when the ball is kicked, and the goalkeeper is not allowed to move off of the goal line until the ball is either saved, hit off of the post, or missed the goal. As shown in the picture bellow, the black line is surrounding the box. The red line is surrounding the spot from which the penalty will be taken.

Facts

• A game of football is 90 minutes long, divided into 2 halves of 45 minutes

• Some of the worlds most expensive footballers are worth over $100 million

• Football is the most watched and played sport around the world

• A game of football is started with a kick off, in the middle of the field

• The World Cup is the most watched sporting tournament in the world

Fun Facts!• In 1950, India withdrew form the World Cup because FIFA refused to let

their team play barefoot• In 1954 Turkey knocked out Spain from during a World Cup qualifier by

drawing straws. Blindfolded Italian boy Luigi Franco Gemma picked the straws to decide the winner

• Luigi Riva once broke the arm of a spectator with one of his powerful shots

• 20 red cards were shown during a 1993 game between Sportivo Ameliano and General Caballero in Paraguay

• Madagascan team Stade Olympique L'Emryne scored 149 own goals against champions AS Adema in 2002. They repeatedly scored own goals in protest of a refereeing decision in their previous game.

• Sir Stanley Matthews never received a yellow or red card in his 33 year long career

Citation list"Soccer Rules-Rules Of Soccer." Soccer Rules-Rules Of Soccer. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Sept. 2012. <http://www.soccerhelp.com/Soccer_Rules_Rules_Of_Soccer.shtml>.Soccerholics.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Sept. 2012. <http://www.soccerholics.com/interesting-soccer-facts.html>."Diagonal System of Control." N.p., 28 July 2012. Web. 06 Sept. 2012.