The rules of football are there to guide the players to play the game by adhering to it. Football, as a game, has been able to earn immense popularity amongst the people all over the world. Quite similar to a number of other games which are played in India as well as in other parts of the world, football also possesses its own set of rules and regulations in order to maintain the true spirit of the game. There are several rules in the sport of football regarding the players, penalties, field, offense and defense.

One of the important rules of Indian football is to maintain the stipulated size of the field. As per international standard, the length of the rectangular football field (pitch) is in the range of 100 to 110 meters (110 to 120 yards) and the width is in the range of 65 to 75 meters (70 to 80 yards). There are two teams which compete against one another in a football match and each team is required to have eleven members. One of the players among the eleven playing members will include the goalkeeper, who always stays within a specified area. Each of the teams tries to score a goal, and prevent the opponent from doing so, throughout the match. Apart from the goalkeeper, none of the other players in a team is allowed to touch the ball with their hands. Even the goalkeeper is also allowed to touch the ball with hands, except within the specified penalty area.

In a football match there must be a team of four officials, who will help in the playing of the game properly and according to its true spirit. The four officials include a referee, two linesmen and the fourth referee. The fourth referee is similar to that of a reserve referee and he keeps an account of the time and duration of the match. All these officials get themselves engaged in the enforcement of the rules of the game of football. Among the officials, the referee is regarded as the head of the outfit and he takes a decision on the calls etc. The two linesmen are chiefly involved in the making of calls for fouls, off sides or any other kind of illegal activities by the players, in their respective halves.

The teams in a game of football play with the intention of scoring goals through the goal post of the opponents. In order to do the same, they play several types of passes like the center, forward pass, aerial pass, backward pass, cross etc. In fact, the major objective of a football match is to score as many goals as a team can. The team that scores most of the goals is declared as the winner of the match. The rule of this game gives permission to have eleven players at a time on the field. However, teams have the power to substitute players in between plays without any restriction. Each team is required to initiate the play on their side of the ball. The defensive players of the game are able to take any position and are permitted to move about their side of the football before the play without any restriction. With the passage of time, there are several defensive areas which have become common. However, there are no fixed rules which could define the defensive roles or positions. The players who will play in the offensive, however, have several rules which define their places in the field and the roles they are required to take in the offense. There should be seven offensive players who will be lined up parallel to the goal line. The remaining four players should be lined up at least a yard at the back of the scrimmage line. The seven offensive football players must be still or set, before the start of the game except one among the four backs who may be in motion away or parallel to the scrimmage line. Additional rules tell that the four backs and the players who are there at both ends of the scrimmage may only pass or catch or run the football.

Since the game of football has a tremendous potential to cause deliberate injury or accidents, a list of strict warnings are enforced in order to prevent the players from taking any illegal step. The referee of a match is having two cards, named red card and yellow card with him in order to punish the players, as per the degree of their offenses. In case a player commits any serious foul or behaves in a very rude manner with the referee, the referee is entitled to show him the red card which means the player will be expelled from the field. The yellow cards are given for comparatively smaller offenses; however, if a player is shown two yellow cards in a match, he is also cancelled from the field. Once a player is cancelled from the field, his team is not able to send any other player as a replacement for him. However, the teams are able to send a replacement in case the goalkeeper gets a red card.

In all, there are seven different offences which can earn a yellow card to a player. A yellow card is shown against anything that can be deemed as unsporting behaviour, dissent by word or action, persistent infringement of the laws, for example, a series of fouls, delaying the restart of play, not retreating the required distance at a free-kick or corner, entering or re-entering the pitch without the referee`s permission and deliberately leaving the pitch without the permission of the referee.

There are provisions where a player can be shown a red card and sent off the field in case he commits any of the seven offences which include serious foul play, spitting at an opponent or another person, violent conduct, such as throwing a punch, a player other than the goalkeeper denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity by deliberately handling the ball, denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards the player`s goal by an offence punishable by a free-kick or a penalty kick, using offensive or insulting or abusive language and/or gestures and receiving a second caution in the match. Rules of football are, thus, set to help players to play the game safely and with good spirit.