Youth Soccer Basics

If you’re new to soccer and you’d like to have a basic understanding of what you’re seeing at games, this is the place to start

The Soccer Field
You should check out the Anatomy of a Youth Soccer Field post that's before this.  It shows all of the terminology I’ll use here to decribe all the parts of the field. 

Start the game
Usually a coin flip is done, and the winner can pick their choice for one of two questions.  #1 Start with the ball, OR #2 What side they’d like to defend.

Amt of Players and Game Length
The games are usually an hour long and broken up into 25min halves or 12min quarters.  
The amount of players on a team depends on the division and the session 

 Fall and Spring sessions (outdoors):

1. U10 plays with 7 players
2. U12 plays with 9

3. U14 and above plays with 11

Winter sessions (indoors):

1. U10 and U12 play with 7 players
2. U14 and above play with 6 players
   

Kick-off
The game starts with a kick-off (they’re also done after goals are scored) where the ball is placed in the center of the field and it is kicked by the team starting with the ball. 

1. Each team must remain on their own side of the halfway line until the ball is kicked

2. The defending team must also remain outside the center circle. 

3. The kicking team can kick it in any direction they choose

4. The kicker is allowed to enter the opposing side if they choose to kick it back to their own team.  

5. You can kick a goal directly on the kick off (this is pretty uncommon). 

6. The player kicking the ball can not kick it a second time until another player has touched the ball. 

You can’t use your Hands
You’re probably already aware of the biggest rule, which is you can’t use your hands in soccer.  Your “hands” in this case, is defined as anything from your fingertips to the start of your shoulder.  

You’re allowed to use your legs, hips, chest, back, etc… 

Using your head (i.e. heading) depends on player division:

Players in U10 and lower are not allowed to head 

Players in U12 depend on the league we’re playing in
1. Our winter sessions (Riverfront Sports) allow U12 heading.
2. Our spring/fall sessions (NFYSL) does not allow U12 heading

Players in U14 and higher are allowed to head

You can use your shoulders to hit the ball.  However this is very uncommon. It’s difficult to control the direction of the ball or develop any power using your shoulders. It’s also at the ref’s discretion to determine where your arm stops and the shoulder starts. 

Goal keepers are allowed to use their hands, but only if they’re in the penalty area, AND the ball was not passed to them by their own teammate. They have to throw or kick the ball back into play before leaving the penalty area.

If the ball is passed to the keeper, they have to abide by the same rules as the other players (even if they’re in the penalty area) until a player from the other team touches the ball again.  Note: The goal keeper is allowed to go anywhere on the field.  It is common for a keeper to run outside the penalty area and kick the ball.

Out of bounds
Unlike most sports, the ball is only out of bounds when it completely crosses over the touch line or goal line.  If any part of the ball is still on the line it’s still in play. The red ball in the picture below is still in bounds

 Unlike most sports it doesn’t matter if the player kicking the ball is inbounds or not.  It only depends on the ball itself. 

Throw-Ins
When the ball goes out of bounds by completely crossing the touch line, the other team (the one that didn’t touch it last) does a “Throw-In”. 

A throw-in is done in the area where the ball went out of bounds, but it doesn’t have to be exact.  A lot of leeway is given for the throw-in location (it is up to the ref to determine if the location chosen is close enough).  

To be legal, a throw-in must

1. Be done with two hands on the ball
2. A part of both feet must be on the ground
3. The throw must be from behind and then over the head
4. The player's feet must be on or behind the touchline. 

If a throw-in is not done legally, in U10 or lower, the ref will typically allow the player to try it again.  For U12 and higher, the other team is given a throw-in at the same location. 

If the ball is thrown such that it never goes inbounds, the player gets a second try to throw-in again. 

Additional Notes

1.  A goal cannot be scored directly from a throw-in. (it has to touch someone else first)
2.  The player doing the throw-in cannot touch the ball again until someone else has touched it

Goal Kicks & Corner Kicks
When the ball goes out of bounds across the goal line, one of two things happen.  If the attacking team (i.e. the team trying to score a goal on that side) was last to touch the ball, a goal kick is awarded to the defending team. If the defending team was the last to touch the ball, a corner kick is awarded to the attacking team. 

Goal Kicks
For a goal kick, the following happens

1.   All players on the attacking team need to leave the penalty area. 
2.  A member of the defending team (usually the goalkeeper) places the ball in the goal area (usually at a corner) and kicks the ball back into play

Additional notes:

1.  The team doing the goal kick does not have to wait for the other team to leave the penalty area (i.e. if they want to hurry up & get the ball back in play).
2.  The team doing the goal kick can score a goal directly from the kick (i.e. they can kick the ball across the whole field and into their opponent's goal)
3.  The player doing the kick can not touch the ball again until someone else has touched it
4.  The player doing the goal kick can pass it to his own player inside the penalty box if desired.

Corner Kicks
For a corner kick, the following happens

1.  A member of the attacking team places the ball inside the corner arc closest to where it crossed the goal line.  
2. The defending team must remain 8 yards from the corner arc (10 yards for U14 and higher)
3. A member of the attacking team kicks the ball into play

Additional notes: 

1.  All of the players, from both teams (except for the player doing the kick) are allowed anywhere on the field as long as they’re 8/10 yards or more from the corner arc.  
2. The team doing the corner kick can score a goal directly from the corner kick 
3. The player doing the corner kick can not touch the ball again until someone else has touched it

Free Kicks & Penalty Kicks
When a player breaks a rule, the other team is awarded a free kick or penalty kick. There’s a lot of rules and specifics for free kicks and penalty kicks. The following is just a high-level outline of the basic concepts.  There are exceptions to this outline, especially for:  penalties committed by goalkeepers, penalties committed inside the goal & penalty area, off-field penalties, and flagrant fouls.

Indirect Free Kick
When a player commits a minor penalty, usually not involving player contact, the other team is awarded an Indirect Free Kick.  For an indirect kick, a player gets to kick the ball from where the penalty happened, and the offending team must remain 8 yards away (10 yards for U14 and higher) from the kicker.  You cannot directly score a goal on an indirect kick.  In order to score a goal, another player (from either team) must touch the ball first before it enters the goal.  

Direct Free Kick
When a player commits a serious penalty, usually involving contact, the other team is awarded  a Direct Kick. This is identical to an indirect kick, but on this type of kick you’re allowed to score a goal directly, without any other players touching it.  

Additional notes on Free Kicks.  

1.  The players on both teams are generally allowed to go anywhere on the field during the kicks as long as they’re 8/10 yards from the kicker
2. For kicks taken close to the goal, it’s common for the defending team to line up their players (i.e. build a wall) to try and stop the opposing team from scoring.
3. For all free kicks the player kicking the ball is not allowed to kick it again until another player has touched the ball

Penalty Kick
When a player commits an offense that normally awards a direct kick, but it occurs inside the player's own penalty area, the other team is usually awarded a Penalty Kick.  For a penalty kick, the ball is placed on the penalty marker, and only the goalkeeper is allowed to defend the goal. All players must remain outside of the penalty area, and penalty arc.

Offside Penalty
Offside penalties are probably the most confusing soccer rule for new fans.  It's a simple rule but can lead to complex situations which get confusing.  Here is a summary of the rule.

A player on the attacking team is offsides, if he/she is 

1. Closer to the goal than the ball  AND

2. Closer to the goal than all but one player from the opposing team AND

3. Is on the opponent's half of the field.  

The goalkeeper counts as a player, so you can simplify this rule and say:

An attacking player, without the ball, that’s closer than all opponents except the goalkeeper is offsides.  

There are several details to this which case confusion

1. The offside determination is made when the ball was last touched by your team.  So if you’re onsides when the ball was kicked by a teammate, and while it’s rolling or flying you run past everyone and kick a goal, you’re not offsides because you were onsides when it was last kicked. 

2. If you are offside but are not involved with the play, and your team did not gain any advantage to you by being offsides, then it is not a penalty. 

Determining if you obtained an advantage may not be straightforward. If you are offside when a teammate passes a ball, and another teammate (who was onside) receives the ball and kicks a goal, the goal may be taken back if it is determined that your being offside gave your team an advantage.  This could be because a defending player moved to cover an offside player or you wound up being closer to the ball after it bounced off of a goal, or another player etc.. 

If a goal is scored when a player is offside it is almost always taken back.  I’ll post a dedicated post about offsides in the future. 

Instances of being offsides but not gaining an advantage can happen with injured players who are laying down offsides.  Another example would be if someone were offsides on a kick at goal but the defending team immediately gains control and starts a strong drive in the other direction.  

Additional notes

1. There are no offside penalties during goal kicks, corner kicks, or throw-ins. 

2. There can be offsides penalties during free kicks

Field Positions
Players are usually assigned positions based mostly on the area of the field they cover.  

Forwards (aka strikers), play up near your opponent's goal. 

Midfields players play in the middle of the field

Backs (aka defenders) play near their own goal. 

The player’s positions are controlled only by the team's strategy / game plan.  There are no rules specific to any players and their position.  All players, including the goalkeeper are allowed to go anywhere on the field.  It is legal for a goalkeeper to play out in the field with the other players and even score goals. This actually happens sometimes at the very end of a game if a team is down by one goal with very little time left.    

Player Contact

During play, players are allowed to bump into each other trying to get position of the ball.  They’re not allowed to hold, grab, or trip other players.  The rules for contact are vague and it is mostly up to the discretion of the ref to determine if a motion is not allowed.  Note, that if a player attempts to kick, strike or trip another player but misses (i.e. they don’t actually touch the other player) it can still be considered a penalty. 

Players can kick at the ball in close proximity to one another. Accidentally kicking another player is not a penalty, but deliberately tripping or kicking another player is a penalty.  It is at the discretion of the ref to determine what’s allowed. 

Player Substitutions

Player substitutions are unlimited for youth soccer, and are generally allowed at any time the game is stopped, e.g., after a goal, goal kick, throw-in, ref stoppage, injury etc.  

For U12 and above you’re only allowed to substitute on a throw-in if you’re the team doing the throw-in, or if the other team is doing a throw-in but they’re also doing a substitution. 

Player substitutions are not allowed during corner kicks.  Also, all substitutions have to be approved by the Ref.  The ref has the authority to delay a substitution if they feel it will disrupt the flow of the game.   

The procedure for a substitution is as follows

1. A player waiting to come in has to stand by the midfield line

2. The coach has to notify the ref that a substitution is desired. 

3. The ref will call in the player when he determines it's appropriate.

These rules are not strictly enforced for younger divisions.

Thats about it

If you’ve made it through this entire page you should have no problem following what’s going on in a youth soccer game, in fact you’ll likely know more than most parents there.