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Soccer is a game of moving a ball around. The end goal is to put the ball across your opponent's goal line, but here's a couple ways of moving the ball around before it reaches the back of their net.
Each game of soccer begins with a kickoff. A kickoff also happens after any goal, and at the beginning of a new half. At the kickoff, the attacking team may kick the ball in any direction, including directly at the opposing team’s goal. The opposing team must be standing in their own half, and outside of the centre circle. The attacking team can have as many players in the circle as they want, as long as they’re still in their own half.
Until very recently, it used to be that during the kick off, the attacking team must pass the ball forward. So teams had two people in the circle: one to take the kick, and the other to immediately pass it backwards. After many decades, sensible minds got rid of this rule, so now one player can pass it back immediately.
The pass is the simplest move in soccer. It is simply using any legal part of your body to pass the ball to a teammate. Outfield players can pass using any part of their body other than their arms (officially defined as anything below the shoulder). Goalkeepers can also pass with their hands. Passes can be in any direction, at any time.
A shot is a deliberate attempt at scoring a goal. Anything that goes into the goal is a shot. Anything that could have gone into the goal if it wasn’t for a pesky defender or goalkeeper standing in the way is also a shot. If the shot went high or wide, or if it hit the crossbar or upright posts, it is called a “shot attempt.” If your own teammate blocks your shot, it is called a “blocked shot”.
A corner is a kick taken from the corner flag. There is a quarter-circle with a radius of 1 yard around the corner flag: you can place the ball anywhere within the circle, or even on the line. While technically possible that a corner kick result in an offside, in practice it is very rare.
A free kick happens when the referee stops the play because of a foul. Officially, the opposing team must stand back at least 10 yards from the ball. Unofficially, the ref only counts out the yards if the kicking team is asked to.
Any player may take the free kick. The player taking the free kick may only touch the ball once. At least one other player must then touch it before he is allowed to touch the ball again.
Teams often have a designated free kick taker, but sometimes there can be arguments on the pitch about who will take the kick!
A free kick can be taken “quickly”, without waiting for the other team to stand back the minimum distance—unless the team asked the ref to enforce the 10-yard rule, or for some other reason that the ref tells the kicking team to wait. Then the kicker has to wait for the referee to blow the whistle before he is allowed to kick.
There are two kinds of free kicks:
Direct
A direct free kick is one where the team can technically score directly from the free kick. (Think of the famous goals scored by David Beckham.) This is most free kicks.
Indirect
An indirect free kick means that the kicker cannot score directly from the kick. These happen rarely in a game, and the referee will put an arm up to indicate that it is an indirect free kick. Indirect free kicks are awarded most often as a result of an offside, or usually non-physical fouls (like excessively rude language).
There is one really rare indirect free kick: if a goal picks up the ball after his own teammate passes it back to him, then the opposing team is granted an indirect free kick inside the penalty box. (If any other player handles the ball in the penalty box, it is an automatic penalty.) These are actually quick difficult to score, as the defending team simply lines up a bunch of people directly on the goal line.
If the ball leaves the field of play on the sides of the field (the so-called “sidelines”), then it results in a throw-in. A player must use both of his hands to throw the ball in over his head. (That is, you can’t throw the ball like a basketball pass.)
Two weird things about throw-ins. First, is that there are no offsides on a throw-in. The thrower can pass to any player in any position on the pitch. Second, you are allowed to do a front flip as you are throwing the ball in.
When the attacking team shoots the ball wide of the net across the endline, the defending team gets a free kick inside their own 6 yard box. While most of the time it is the goalie who takes the goal kick, any player on the defending team is allowed to kick it. The opposing players must be outside of the penalty box.
When the keeper makes a save, there are special rules as they hold onto the ball. First, is that opposing players must give him space. Second, when the keeper is in possession of the ball and is going to make a pass, opposing players may not impede him. Finally, after coming to possess the ball in their hands, the goalkeeper must release it (by either throwing, kicking, or simply dropping the ball at their feet) within 6 seconds.
