Soccer for dummies: Offsides, substitutions, positions and strategy explained

Compared to many other activities, association football or soccer, isn’t a particularly complicated sport but the rules of the game might seem confusing to some - and it doesn’t help when the rulebook is modified.

So for the benefit of the uninitiated, let’s take a look at some of the basic laws of the game, as determined by the International Football Association Board (IFAB). We’ll start with one of the most misunderstood rules

Offside

During a soccer match, you will see many moves which are either stopped or reviewed for offside. It happens a lot and only really becomes an issue if the move ends in a goal or a penalty. It is not an offence in itself just for a player to be in an offside position.

Basically, the offside rule aims to prevent players from gaining an unfair advantage by positioning themselves too close to the opponent’s goal. If an attacking player is closer to the rival goalkeeper than any member of the rival team, the attacking player will be judged to be offside - but only when the ball is played forward. Offside calls are signaled to the referee by the linesman, who will raise his flag if a player is illegally positioned.

Law 11 states: “A player in an offside position at the moment the ball is played or touched by a team-mate is only penalized on becoming involved in active play by:

If an offside offence occurs, the referee awards an indirect free kick where the offence occurred, including if it is in the player’s own half of the field of play.

There is no offside offence if a player receives the ball from a corner-kick, throw-in or goal-kick.

A smart defense will move forward in a line, in unison, to leave attackers in advanced positions “offside”. This is known as the offside trap. However, all it takes is one player to play an opponent onside, so if one member of the defense doesn’t move with the rest when the ball is played, they could leave an opponent onside and with a free run at goal.

That’s more or less how it works in black and white, but of course mistakes can be made...

Substitutions

During a soccer match, coaches on both side will want to make changes to their starting XI. There are reasons why. Some players might start to fade, some might get injured and some might just not be in their best form on the day and the coach might want to get fresh legs onto the pitch or change his gameplan if he spots any weak links. If a player is shown a yellow card, the coach might decide to take him off rather than run the risk of another booking which would leave the team a man down.

The substitution law, which was introduced in the 1950s, has changed a number of times over the years. Originally, teams were only allowed to make one substitution per match. That was changed after if became clear that in some circumstances a team could be left with a big numerical disadvantage - e.g. if one or more players get injured and cannot continue, or sent off after a coach has brought on his only sub.

In England, the number of substitutions allowed was increased from one to two ahead of the 1987-88 season with teams able to have a maximum of five players on the subs’ bench.

The number of subs a team could use rose to three in the mid-1990s - first, only in the case of injury to a goalkeeper, the to three including outfield players in 1995.

It was raised again during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 to compensate for players who were isolating. Coaches could make five substitutions with three opportunities during the game to switch players. The rule became permanent in 2022.

Law 3.2 states: “The number of substitutes, up to a maximum of five, which may be used in any match played in an official competition will be determined by FIFA, the confederation or the national football association.

For men ’s and women ’s competitions involving the 1st teams of clubs in the top division or senior ‘A’ international teams where competition rules permit a maximum of five substitutes to be used, each team:

The names of the substitutes must be given to the referee before the start of the match. The referee must be informed before any substitution can be made.

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