Subscribe To This Site

The Free Kick - Direct or Indirect Pain or Pleasure!

This is the Free Kicks Page of the How to Play Soccer-Soccer School on Spain-Football.Org.

Scroll down the page for the rules, tips and techniques, videos, book recommendations and lots more interesting stuff!

A free kick is taken from the exact spot where the foul was committed and the ball must not be in movement.

The players of the opposing team have to be at least 9.15 metres away until the ball is in play - when the ball has been touched or when it's in movement.

The player that touched the ball cannot touch it again without another player touching it first - if he does, an indirect kick is signalled against his team.

In This Section:

About Direct Free Kicks

A player can kick a direct free kick in the direction of the opposing goal and if he scores, the goal is counted as valid. That's why it's called a direct free kick.

About Indirect Free Kicks

A goal is only allowed if another player has touched the ball after the player who has taken the kick. If the player scores directly from an indirect kick, the ref should invalidate the goal and give a goal kick to the opposing team.

Scoring An Own Goal

It's a funny rule this because I can't imagine it ever happening, but as the rule exists I feel I've got to tell you about it.

If a player scores an own goal from a free kick, the goal isn't valid and the referee should signal a corner in favour of the opposing team.

If the kick was taken in the penalty area, then it has to be taken again. Furthermore, if an indirect kick is blown in the penalty area, the ball is only considered to be in play if it's been kicked directly out of the area. Get your head round that!

Did You Know . . . ?

If an indirect kick in favour of the attacking team is signalled in the 6 yard box, the ball is placed on the goal line at the place closest to where the foul was committed.

An Interesting Question

When a free kick is blown, how do you know whether it's direct or indirect?

If it's an indirect kick, the referee will raise his arm above his head.

Are You A Player, Coach, Parent or Referee?

As I do more and more research on the Internet on football-related topics I come across an ever increasing number of fantastic resources. Here are a few of the best ones I´ve found so far but with time this could turn into a complete section on different aspects of the art of playing and coaching.

Blast The Ball is quite simply the best video available for learning all about kicking a soccer ball – covers everything from techniques, aerodynamics, parts of the ball etc. The promotional video is certainly worth watching as it is a lesson in itself.

Total Soccer Fitness is a free fitness course that comes in five email instalments and is ideal for players, parents and coaches alike.

Soccer Tutor is a set of 250 Soccer Drills endorsed by Adidas, Umbro and Leyton Orient amongst others. If you coach a youth team and want to work on their soccer skills, this selection will keep you in ideas for season after season as your players advance from beginner to professional. It´s particularly useful if you plan on taking your your FA or UEFA coaching licence and even if you're only interested watch the demo video – it's excellent. The guy that does the voiceover is so obviously a football professional. Game of two halves, innit?

The Fastbreak Soccer Practice Book Although not quite as intuitive as Soccer Tutor also contains Soccer Drills, this ebook is worth having a look at if only for the free Training Schedules available in PDF format.

Elite Soccer Coach is a very handy guide for football coaches and comes with two more ebooks on Fitness and Formations.

Drills For Taking And Defenging Against A Free Kick

Return To Soccer School - How To Play Soccer

Return To HomePage