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Soccer Throw-In Rules: Complete Guide

21 Apr, 2025

A recent trend on X (formerly Twitter) focused on celebrating the ' Barclays Era ' of the Premier League, when sides like Portsmouth, Wigan Athletic and Stoke City bloodied the noses of the country's best teams in the 2000s and early 2010s. Praise was heaped on numerous players including Stoke's Rory Delap, a cult figure known above all for his long, arcing throw-ins. Delap was capable of causing havoc in opposition penalty areas, and in...

What Is An Obstruction In Soccer (+ What Exactly Are The Rules)?

16 Apr, 2025

Soccer is a sport that can ignite passions and cause the most mild-mannered people to become loud and aggressive. Most players and referees will be accustomed to a range of different calls and appeals that are vocalised during matches, from shouts about the awarding of specific set pieces to precise calls about individual indiscretions. For that reason, if you've ever played competitive football — whatever the level — you're probably...

What Is Man Marking? (And How Does It Compare To Zonal)

11 Apr, 2025

In recent years, the number of regular football supporters that feel confident talking about tactics in detail has grown significantly. From being introduced to more complex strategies like gegenpressing by pioneering coaches like Jurgen Klopp, to growing awareness about the purpose tactical innovations like the inverted full-back , to building knowledge about why coaches so value specific roles such as the left-sided ball-playing centre...

What Is "Playing Out From The Back" (And Why Is It So Popular)?

08 Apr, 2025

In the last decade, there has been a huge amount of evolution in terms of playing styles at the highest level of football, particularly in England. It wasn't long ago that 4-4-2 was the norm across the Premier League, and physical, long-ball football was widely accepted as the most effective way to survive in a relegation battle in England's top tier. Even the teams challenging for the title would usually aim to hit the ball long to a forward...

What Is A Half-Space In Soccer? Football Tactics Explained

03 Apr, 2025

If you regularly watch videos or listen to podcasts dedicated to football tactics, you probably will have come across the phrase 'half-space' at some point. It's often thrown around by tactics experts but there's still plenty of confusion amongst average fans about exactly what this term means. In this article we're going to be addressing that issue, explaining what people mean by a half space in soccer and fleshing out why this aspect of...

The Aggregate Score in Soccer: Why and When It Is Used

28 Mar, 2025

Association football — known across North America as soccer — has a language of its own. When you first start getting to grips with the game, you regularly come across words and phrases that would mean little to a non-football fan, from rules-based elements of the sport like 'offside' to more complex technical terms like 'counter-pressing', 'low block', or 'double pivot'. These are all terms that relate to on-pitch tactics, but there are...

What Is a Transition In Soccer?

25 Mar, 2025

Modern tacticians tend to divide football matches into four key phases of play. Three of those are fairly simple to understand: in-possession is when a team is in possession of the ball, out-of-possession is when their opponents have the ball and they must organise appropriately, and set pieces are dead-ball situations like corners, free kicks, and throw-ins (an area of the game that continues to grow in importance ). But the fourth...

What Are The Rules In Futsal?

22 Oct, 2024

When the governance of futsal was taken over by football's international governing body FIFA in 1989, it marked a significant turning point for the sport. The first FIFA Futsal World Championship took place that year, and in the decades that have followed the game has continued becoming more closely aligned with soccer, while also growing in popularity across the globe. However, many people who don't play the sport are still unfamiliar with...

What Is An Olimpico Goal (+6 Best Examples)

13 Jul, 2024

For England fans watching at home, there were some nervy moments in the recent European Championship quarter-final match against Switzerland. However, there weren't many Swiss chances that got pulses racing more than the moment Xherdan Shaqiri tried to swing the ball into the back of the net direct from a corner during extra time. The audacious effort impressed England's goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, who was relieved not to concede from the set...

How To Kick A Soccer Ball Properly (+ 4 Ways To Kick)

01 Jul, 2024

When you watch elite-level soccer on the TV, every touch taken by the players on the field seems like second nature. Professional soccer players can bring down high, looping balls with the deftest of touches, they can control and pass it with speed and precision, and they can kill the ball dead when it's blasted into their feet from close range. Pros might make these skills look easy, but completing such manoeuvres in fast-moving, intense...

Soccer Rules Explained: A Quick Guide To All The Key Basics

20 Jun, 2024

Legendary Dutch footballer and coach Johan Cruyff — the architect of Total Football — once said "Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is.” It's a nice quote that sums up both his philosophy, which revolved around short, simple pass-and-move football, and the broader accessibility of the sport, which can be played by pretty much anyone in the world with next to no equipment, other than a...

Soccer Terms: The Beginners Glossary of Soccer Terminology

10 Jun, 2024

For people who don't possess an in-depth knowledge of the sport, having a conversation with a bunch of football fanatics can be like trying to understand a different language. The spread of the beautiful game into every corner of the globe has led to a wide variety of words, phrases and concepts developing, relating to every aspect of the sport. Every year, multiple new terms will enter the public sphere and become adopted by fans looking for...

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