association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

, the back-pass rule prohibits the

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

from handling the ball in most cases when it is passed to them by a teammate. 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 A throw-in is a method of restarting play in a game of association football when the whole of ball passes over the touchline. It is governed by Law 15 of Laws of the Game (association football), the Laws of the Game. In Scotland it is known a ...

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 case 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 soccer in the United States. It is a full member of FIFA and governs American soccer ...

(USSF) has provided the following guidance to goalkeepers 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 Association football, 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 ...

was widely criticised as excessively dull, rife with back-passing and goalkeepers holding up the ball to waste time. 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 been inv ...

. The first games played with the new rule were at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

. Early matches with the new rule resulted in some confusion in defences; indeed in the very first game

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

fell foul of the new rule and

the United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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 Bayern Munich from an indirect free kick, awarded for a back-pass late in a game between them and

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, was decisive in Bayern winning the 2000–01 Bundesliga. 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 their feet, and has been cited as the start of the evolution of the playmaking " sweeper-keeper".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Back-Pass Rule Laws of association football Association football terminology 1992 in association football 1992 introductions