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Kick Off Time - It's What We Wait All Week For!

This is the Kick Offs 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!

The Kick Off takes place at the beginning of the game, after each goal, at the start of the second half and, if necessary, at the beginning of the two periods of extra time.

Every now and again a famous personality will take the kick off but in this case, the players have to do it again - this time for real!

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On the Flip of a Coin

Before the kick off, the referee tosses a coin and the captain of the visiting team calls heads or tails. If the game is being played on a neutral ground, it is the captain of the oldest club who calls the toss.

The team that wins the toss decides which end they'll play on but it's the team that lost the toss that kicks off first.

Ready To Start The Game?

In preparation for the kick off, all the players of the two teams must be in their own half and all of the team that isn't kicking off have to be outside the centre circle.

The player taking the kick can only touch the ball once. If he touches the ball twice, an indirect free kick is awarded to the other team.

You'd Better Be There On Time

The referee will consider a team to be absent if at least seven players - eight in France - aren't present within fifteen minutes of the proposed kick off time.

However, the referee doesn't have the right to award the game to the team that is present. He must simply make a note of what happened and then the league will take the appropriate decision.

Did You Know . . . ?

Play is stopped and the ball is left on the ground when the referee realises that something has happened that isn't covered by the rules.

For example, if there are two balls on the pitch or a spectator has run on. The referee then drops the ball from where the game was stopped and play restarts the moment the ball hits the ground.

You Are the Ref

A player scores an own goal directly from the kick off. What should you do?

He should be asked to kick off again.

However, if he scores a goal against the opposing team directly from the kick off, the goal is counted as valid.

Something To Read Whilst You're Waiting For The Kick-Off

In my opinion, Four Four Two is the best soccer magazine around - When Saturday Comes is a close second, by the way. What I particularly like about Four Four Two is the variety of articles that combine up to date news with football history and statistics. Inevitably, the Premiership gets very strong coverage but so do all the major European leagues as well - including Spain, of course.

As matter of fact, the inspiration for Spain-Football.Org came - at least, in part - from a Four Four Two supplement that came free with the magazine many years ago. It was a kind of tourist's guide to Spanish football, and it got me thinking that there might be lots of people all over the world who were fascinated by my own personal obsession

I've included the image link to Amazon.Com - nice to see Real Madrid on the front cover, by the way. Strangely, I couldn't find Four Four Two on Amazon.co.uk. I suppose that's because you can get it so easily from your local newsagent.

Anyway, Click Here for a Great Selection of Soccer Magazines on Amazon.co.uk and Here for Amazon.Com (including Four Four Two!)

Internet Soccer Resources

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.

KITBAG really has just about the best range of football kit and equipment available on the Net. They're particularly good for exclusives. For example, Kitbag was the first company to have David Beckham Milan shirts on sale - TRULY IMPRESSIVE!

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.

Kick Off With Confidence With Blast The Ball

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