In
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
, the back-pass rule prohibits the
goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
from handling the ball in most cases when it is passed to them by a team-mate. It is described in Law 12, Section 2 of the
Laws of the Game.
Award
Goalkeepers are normally allowed to handle the ball within their own penalty area, and once they have control of the ball in their hands opposition players may not challenge them for it. However the back-pass rule prohibits goalkeepers from handling the ball after it has been deliberately kicked to them by a team-mate, or after receiving it directly from a
throw-in taken by a team-mate. Back-passes with parts of the body other than the foot, such as headers, are allowed. Despite the popular name "back-pass rule", there is no requirement in the laws that the kick or throw-in must be ''backwards''; handling by the goalkeeper is forbidden regardless of the direction the ball travels.
The penalty for the offence is an
indirect free kick
A free kick is a method of restarting play in association football. It is awarded after an infringement of the laws by the opposing team.
Direct and indirect free kicks
Free kicks may be either direct or indirect, distinguished as follows:
...
. This is awarded from the position where the handling occurred, unless it is within the 6-yard goal area, in which the kick is taken from the point on the 6-yard line closest to the point of the offence.
Tricks to circumvent the rule
Goalkeepers are allowed to handle the ball if the ball is played back to them by an action other than a kick or throw-in (such as a header), but defenders are not permitted to attempt to use a deliberate trick to pass the ball to the goalkeeper with a part of the body other than the foot to circumvent the rule. This would include flicking the ball up with the foot and then heading the ball back to the goalkeeper, or heading a ball on the ground that would otherwise be regularly playable with the foot.
The
United States Soccer Federation
The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...
(USSF) has provided the following guidance to goalies about when they cannot use their hands on the ball in the penalty area:
History and impact
The back-pass rule was introduced in 1992 to discourage time-wasting and unduly defensive play after the
1990 World Cup
The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being ...
was described as exceedingly dull, rife with back-passing and goalkeepers holding up the ball to waste time.
During that tournament, in the Republic of Ireland versus Egypt match, goalkeeper
Packie Bonner
Patrick Joseph Bonner (born 24 May 1960) is an Irish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper and spent his entire career at Celtic. He earned a total of 80 caps for the Republic of Ireland national football team after making his debut on h ...
held the ball for nearly six minutes. The last tournament prior to the back-pass rule was
UEFA Euro 1992
The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA.
Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...
, a tournament where eventual winners Denmark made frequent use of outfield players passing to their goalkeeper who held the ball to waste time
The first games played with the new rule were at the
Football_at_the_1992_Summer_Olympics, 1992 Summer Olympics. Early matches with the new rule resulted in some confusion in defences; indeed in the very first game
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
fell foul of the new rule and
the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
were able to score after being awarded an indirect free kick 15 yards from goal.
In 1997, the back-pass rule was extended to prevent goalkeepers handling the ball when received directly from a team-mate's throw in.
A goal scored by
FC Bayern Munich from an indirect free kick, awarded for a back-pass late in a game between them and
Hamburger SV
Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...
, was decisive in Bayern winning the
2000–01 Bundesliga
The 2000–01 Bundesliga was the 38th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. It began on 11 August 2000 and ended on 19 May 2001. FC Bayern Munich successfully defended their title after a last-minute Patrik Andersson goal ...
.
The back pass rule is considered one of the most popular and successful rule changes in the modern game.
As well as preventing dull play, it also required goalkeepers to become more proficient with playing the ball with the foot,
and has been cited as the start of the evolution of the play-making "
sweeper-keeper".
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Back-Pass Rule
Laws of association football
Association football terminology
1992 in association football
1992 introductions