This is an old revision of this page, as edited by EncyclopedianWP (talk | contribs) at 23:27, 13 January 2025 (←Created page with '{{Short description|Comparison between beach soccer and association football}} thumb|Beach soccer match thumb|Player scoring in a football game Beach soccer began in the 1940s in Brazil as a version of association football (soccer), taking elements of its parent game into an reduced format so players could still play on beaches. Over the years, both sports have developed, creating a situat...'). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 23:27, 13 January 2025 by EncyclopedianWP (talk | contribs) (←Created page with '{{Short description|Comparison between beach soccer and association football}} thumb|Beach soccer match thumb|Player scoring in a football game Beach soccer began in the 1940s in Brazil as a version of association football (soccer), taking elements of its parent game into an reduced format so players could still play on beaches. Over the years, both sports have developed, creating a situat...')(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Comparison between beach soccer and association football
Beach soccer began in the 1940s in Brazil as a version of association football (soccer), taking elements of its parent game into an reduced format so players could still play on beaches. Over the years, both sports have developed, creating a situation where the two sports share common traits while also hosting various differences.
The Laws of the Game for each sport both have 17 laws, all of which cover the same topics, although with some variations in certain areas.
Similarities
Area of play
- Playing area markings: Both sports are played on a rectangular field marked with lines. The two longer lines are called touch lines and the two shorter lines are called goal lines.
- Penalty area: both sports have a penalty area.
- Goals: Goals are placed at the centre of each goal line, with two posts equidistant from the corners. The two posts are connected by a crossbar.
Starts and stoppages
- Scoring: Scoring takes place when the entire ball passes over the goal line in between the goal posts.
- Boundary stoppages: The ball is also considered out of play in both sports when it completely passes over the goal line or the touch line and the attacking team kicks the ball back into play in a Corner kick when the defending team kicks the ball over the goal line. During restarts from the touch line, beach soccer and association football require at least part of the ball to be behind the touch line until the ball is back in play.
- Kick-offs: Kick-offs also take place in each sport at the beginning of each half or after the scoring of a goal and dropped-balls occur when play is interrupted for any reason not otherwise specified within the laws of the game.
Fouls
- Direct free kick fouls: There are ten identical fouls that result in direct free kicks and if any one of these fouls occur in the penalty area, a penalty kick is awarded.
- The advantage rule: Referees are also allowed to let play continue if the stoppage of play would reward the team committing the foul, better known as the "Advantage Rule".
- Yellow and red cards: Cautions and sending-off offences are also identical, and the procedure regarding free kicks is the same, although in association football all opponents must stay at least 9.15 metres from the ball until it is back in play where in futsal, all opponents must stay at least 5 metres from the ball until it is back in play.
Miscellaneous
- Laws of the Game: As of 2016, the primary governing body for both association football and futsal is FIFA, with the laws of each game determined by International Football Association Board, a body consisting of FIFA, The Football Association, the Scottish Football Association, the Football Association of Wales and the Irish Football Association.
Differences
Scope, speed and field surface
From top-bottom: Association and beach soccer pitches.
- Size of field: A beach soccer pitch is approximately a third of the size of an association football pitch and a beach soccer ball is also slightly smaller on average. Understandably, there are fewer players on the pitch in futsal (five, including a goalkeeper) than in association football (eleven, including a goalkeeper).
- Field markings: While there are similarities, there are key differences, most notably in association football all markings are painted, while in beach soccer only touchlines and goal lines are marked with colored tape, the halfway line and penalty areas are imaginary parallel lines to goal lines, in the case of halfway is marked by two red flags and penalty areas at a distance of 9 meters from each goal lines by two yellow flags each.
- Goals: Association football goals measures 8 yards (7.3 m) width x 8 feet (2.4 m) height, meanwhile, futsal only 5.5 metres width x 2.2 metres height.
- More goal scoring: Due to this more concentrated focus, the speed of play and the number of goals is higher in beach soccer than association football.
- Pitch surface: The pitch in association football must be either a green-coloured natural grass or a green-coloured artificial turf substitute while beach soccer is always played on sand.
Equipment
- Ball:The specifications of each code are as follows:
| Association | Futsal |
|---|---|
|
|
- Footwear: Association football footwear has cleats and in beach soccer footwear is not allowed.
Referees
- Number of referees: In a regulation match, association football will generally have one referee and two assistant referees while beach soccer will have one referee and one "second" referee. The three-referee system in association football holds much clearer distinctions among the officiating team than the two-referee beach soccer system.
"Official" assistant referees exist in higher level beach soccer matches, serving as replacement referees and either third referees (generally overseeing substitutions and time-outs) or as timekeepers (keeping a record of the time and goals scored at the discretion of the referee.)
- Difference in leadership structure on referee teams: In association football, determinations made within the duties of the assistant referees are subject the final decision of the referee. This is technically not the case in beach soccer, as the two referees are equal in everything outside of timekeeping and the decision to suspend or abandon a match. However, in practice, the second referee is considered subordinate to the "primary" referee and is expected to defer to their decisions whenever there is any conflict, comparable to the assistant referee/referee dynamic, although this is far more rare than in association football.
- Referee positioning: In the three-referee system, the assistant referees are located along the right touch line of each team's attacking half, keeping in line with the second-to-last defender, the ball or the half line. Per what is known as the "Diagonal Control System," the referee's optimal position is in a location approximately equal to the two assistant referees and the ball that allows the referee to watch play so calls may be made if needed. Futsal referees move along the touch line up and down the width of the court, with one "leading" referee situated ahead of play and one "trailing" referee situated behind play, comparable to Basketball. Their positioning is also similar to that of assistant referees in association football, as they try to stay in line with the second to last defender or the ball, although unlike in association football, they are not set to stay with one half of the pitch.
- Referee signals: Association football assistant referees also hold flags to indicate calls. Futsal referees do not have flags, but make motions comparable to assistant referees to indicate when the ball is out of play.
Match duration
The duration of the match can vary depending on league variations. However, at the highest levels of play, association football is separated into two standardized halves of 45 minutes. In beach soccer, that standardized time is three periods of 12 minutes each.
One difference is that in the rules of beach soccer time stops when the ball is out of play, while in association football time flows uninterruptedly, and the fourth assistant referee suggests to the main referee the time to be added at the end of each half, allowing for extra time to be played at the referee's discretion to make up for any time wasted.
Also in beach soccer, teams are allowed to call a time-out once per half whenever the ball is out of play and in their possession. Teams can't call a time-out while the ball is in play. An unused time-out from the first half cannot be carried over to the second half; if a match in the knockout stage of a competition goes to extra time, no time-outs are allowed. There are no team time-outs at all in association football, except for a cooling break at the referee's discretion during matches played in extremely high temperatures.
Accumulated fouls
Unlike in association football, beach soccer keeps track of fouls that award a direct free kick, also known as "accumulated foul."
Upon the sixth accumulated foul in a half and every accumulated foul after the sixth, the free kick is generally taken from what is known as the "second penalty mark,"
After the sixth accumulated foul, the advantage rule generally no longer applies, with referees granting an immediate free kick outside of very clear goal scoring opportunities.
If the infringement takes place in the attacking half of the pitch, the fouled player may take the free kick from the spot of the infringement.
Unlike a penalty kick, the goalkeeper is required only to stay 5 metres from the spot of the free kick and does not have to stay on the goal line until the ball is kicked. The player kicking the ball must also shoot at the goal and all other players must stay behind the ball until the ball is kicked.
Offside
In association football, a player is in an offside position if they are beyond the half-line, beyond the second to last defender and beyond the ball at the moment when their teammate touches the ball, excluding when the teammate is engaged in a goal kick, throw-in, or corner kick.
They are committing an infringement if they are in an offside position and are interfering with an opponent, interfering with play or gaining an advantage from being in an offside position.
In beach soccer, there is no comparable offside rule, although a portion of the Beach Soccer Laws of the Game is dedicated to indicating that there is no offside rule.
Restarts
- Defensive goal line restarts/touch line restarts: The use of the foot on a goal kick and the hands on throw-ins are also present in beach soccer, with the of kick-in instead of throw-in.
- During play in beach soccer, if the attacking team sends the ball over the goal line, the goalkeeper restarts the ball through a goal clearance, where they throw the ball to another player outside of the penalty area. When either team sends the ball over the touch line in beach soccer, the other team kicks rather than throws the ball back into play in what is known as a kick-in.
- Speed of restart: With goal clearances, kick-ins, corner kicks, the ball must be put back into play within four seconds. Whenever the goalkeeper otherwise has possession of the ball in their own half, they also must give up possession of the ball within four seconds once they are ready to release the ball.
- Goalkeepers must release the ball within six seconds in association football, but this rule is often ignored as long as the goalkeeper is seen to be making "a sincere attempt to release" the ball.
Substitutions
In both sports, the referee has discretion over which players can or cannot come into the pitch, but in beach soccer, substitutions can happen during play provided that players come on and off the pitch simultaneously and through a designated area.
In association football, players must wait until a stoppage in play to enter the pitch, and then only after the referee has been advised of the substitution. Although there are many variations, at the highest levels of competition, generally five substitutions are allowed per side during a match.
Penalty kick
In football, the penalty kick is taken at a spot inside the centre of the Penalty Area 12 yards from the goal, called the penalty mark.
In beach soccer, the penalty mark is imaginably located 9 metres from the midpoint of the goalposts.
References
- "Law 1 - The Field of Play". Laws of the Game 2015/2016. Zurich, Switzerland: FIFA/IFAB. p. 6.
- "Law 1 - The Pitch". Beach Soccer Laws of the Game 2024/25. Zurich, Switzerland: FIFA/IFAB. p. 15.
- "Law 1 - The Field of Play". Laws of the Game 2015/2016. Zurich, Switzerland: FIFA/IFAB. p. 8.
- "Law 1 - The Pitch". Beach Soccer Laws of the Game 2024/25. Zurich, Switzerland: FIFA/IFAB. p. 16.
- "Law 1 - The Field of Play". Laws of the Game 2015/2016. Zurich, Switzerland: FIFA/IFAB. p. 9.
- "Law 1 - The Pitch". Beach Soccer Laws of the Game 2024/25. Zurich, Switzerland: FIFA/IFAB. p. 20.
- "Five substitutions permitted in all top-level competitions from 2022/23". 90min.com. 2022-06-13. Archived from the original on 2023-01-13. Retrieved 2023-01-20.
| Comparison of Football codes | |
|---|---|
| American football | |
| Association football | |
| Australian rules football | |
| Canadian football | |
| Gaelic football | |
| Rugby league | |
| Rugby union | |
| Laws of the Game (rules of association football) | |
|---|---|
| Terms |
|
| Comparisons | |
| IFAB | |
| Related | |
| International association football | ||
|---|---|---|
| World (FIFA) |  | |
| Asia (AFC) | ||
| Africa (CAF) | ||
| North America (CONCACAF) | ||
| South America (CONMEBOL) | ||
| Oceania (OFC) | ||
| Europe (UEFA) | ||
| Inter-Continental |
| |
| Non-FIFA | ||