Soccer when is a tackle a foul

A tackle is when a player goes at an attacking player and successfully stops possession and ball movement without committing a foul. A defensive player is allowed to play the ball, making their best effort to get the ball without harming the attacking player. It is up to the official to determine if the action is a tackle or a foul. A successful tackle is also known as winning the ball from an opponent.

Usually, the best tacklers are defenders and defensive midfielders. Knowing when to go in for a tackle as opposed to cutting off an angle and waiting for the dribbler to make a bad touch is an instinct that skilled defenders develop over time.

The risk of committing to tackle the ball away is that the defender might be caught flat-footed by a speedy attacker who can juke the ball around them. If a substitute, substituted or sent-off player, player temporarily off the field of play or team official throws or kicks an object onto the field of play and it interferes with play, an opponent or match official, play is restarted with a direct free kick or penalty kick where the object interfered with play or struck or would have struck the opponent, match official or the ball.

News Go back News. George's Park Go back St. Go back Shop. Tickets Official Shop Wembley St. Whole Game Enables clubs and referees to administer their day to day activities. My Account Log out. Law 12 Fouls and Misconduct. Direct free kick A direct free kick is awarded if a player commits any of the following offences against an opponent in a manner considered by the referee to be careless, reckless or using excessive force: charges jumps at kicks or attempts to kick pushes strikes or attempts to strike including head-butt tackles or challenges trips or attempts to trip If an offence involves contact it is penalised by a direct free kick or penalty kick.

Careless is when a player shows a lack of attention or consideration when making a challenge or acts without precaution. No disciplinary sanction is needed Reckless is when a player acts with disregard to the danger to, or consequences for, an opponent and must be cautioned Using excessive force is when a player exceeds the necessary use of force and endangers the safety of an opponent and must be sent off A direct free kick is awarded if a player commits any of the following offences: a handball offence except for the goalkeeper within their penalty area holds an opponent impedes an opponent with contact bites or spits at someone on the team lists or a match official throws an object at the ball, opponent or match official, or makes contact with the ball with a held object See also offences in Law 3 HANDLING THE BALL For the purposes of determining handball offences, the upper boundary of the arm is in line with the bottom of the armpit.

Disciplinary action The referee has the authority to take disciplinary action from entering the field of play for the pre-match inspection until leaving the field of play after the match ends including kicks from the penalty mark. Players, substitutes and substituted players Delaying the restart of play to show a card Once the referee has decided to caution or send off a player, play must not be restarted until the sanction has been administered, unless the non-offending team takes a quick free kick, has a clear goal-scoring opportunity and the referee has not started the disciplinary sanction procedure.

Leaving the field of play to celebrate a goal is not a cautionable offence but players should return as soon as possible. Before, during and after the sequence of a challenge on the ground with potential misconduct, the referee must be mindful of the players and the game situation. The possible malicious intent of the player executing the challenge is important.

Past history in this or other known game, skill level and circumstances of the given situation are important to evaluating intent. Most frequently, slide tackles from the rear are a result of a defender being beaten by the attacker.

That immediately makes the defender more aggressive. Ground challenges from the side or front are often the result of defense in depth where the first defender has failed to stop the attack or through balls to an unmarked attacker. That will result in challenges and tackles initiated a greater distance from the attacking play. Those challenges are frequently done with greater speed and less control by the tackling player.

Results of the challenge and injury to the attacking player must be considered by the referee. Often those situations will result in potential serious injuries from the reckless play and excessive force. Boots cleats-up and hard contact with the Achilles area will almost always result in misconduct in addition to the foul.

Referees must also be prepared to sanction dives when the attacking player falls to the ground to draw a foul after a fair challenge. Match score, distance from the goal and time during the match will also affect the speed, force and tackler intent during those situations. The factors covered provide the referee with guidelines to make the right call at the right time, keeping the game fun, fair and safe. So no penalty would have been given whatsoever. If the action is careless, reckless, or excessively forceful, getting the ball first is absolutely irrelevant.

Some contact is obviously allowed, but an elbow into the head of the player who has done nothing but run into empty space would always be called. Show 1 more comment. I won't recap the full text of it it's about 4 pages long , but the highlights are basically that a foul in the run of play consists of any of the following, if the referee considers it to be careless, reckless or using excessive force: Kicking, attempting to kick, tripping, attempting to trip, pushing, tackling, jumping at, charges, striking, attempting to strike, holding, or spitting at an opponent Handling the ball deliberately Playing in a dangerous manner Impeding the progress of an opponent Interfering with a goalkeeper releasing the ball from his hands Unsporting behavior yellow card I've left out fouls that are not in relation to the run of play, but you can see the whole list on the document.

Duncan Duncan 2, 11 11 silver badges 14 14 bronze badges. Your Neuer-Higuain foul comment is unclear because you seem to have used the wrong player name. Do you mean that " Higuain running straight into the goalkeeper Good catch! Also, studro's answer is using the most recent copy of the Laws of the Game I was inadvertently linking to last year's. I'd recommend his answer over mine.

This is also a good answer. I didn't even see yours until after I posted mine - it looks like you got in just before me! That was a reasoned and well expressed comment This wasn't clear cut decision for me, hence why I'm agreeing to disagree, but if I was on the field and I was the attacker, no I definitely wouldn't be this calm.

Being entitled to space has no relevance to whether a tackle was careless or reckless or involved excessive force.

Your response ignores large portions of law and high-level advice. Being entitled to space is absolutely relevant. It is what defines whether it's a trip or not. If a defender has his foot somewhere, and attacker runs into it and falls over, it's not a trip.

If the attacker is running and the defender sticks his foot into the path of the run, it's a trip. When the defender tackles, gets the ball, and commits no further movement, he's entitled to that space, no trip, no foul.

If there's further movement that trips the attacker, foul. That's the source of the "ball first" misunderstanding. It actually is all about entitled space. Glorfindel 1, 1 1 gold badge 14 14 silver badges 32 32 bronze badges. James C James C 1.

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