During the summer of 2019, the International Football Association Board amended the Laws of the Game that took effect January 1, 2020. Our member recreation and travel leagues have been informed of the recent changes to the laws of the game, and of course, so have the referees. The document is a quite extensive, but here are the more common changes that you should be aware of. Feel free to contact us or your league with additional questions.

• Yellow or Red card to team officials
• Penalty Kicker taker may receive treatment and take the kick.
• Dropped ball changes.
• Coin toss--choice of kick-off or which end to defend.
• If the ball hits the referee, attack starts, change of possession = dropped ball
• Wall of 3 or more = Opponents are 1 yard/meter away.
• The ball can be kicked in any direction, including backward, at kick-off (previously, the ball had to go forward first).
• Penalty Kick, Goal Keeper must have at least one foot on line.

View the complete Laws of the Game document.