3FC League Rules of Play

GENERAL RULES

• Teams should wear matching uniforms (color) and must wear standard soccer equipment such as shin guards and cleats.  Teams will provide a game ball.  U7 size 3, U8 thru U12 size 4, U13 and up size 5.  If two teams have the same colored shirt, the listed home team must change.

• Teams play with 3 field players, no goalies.

• Games will consist of two – 12 minute halves with a 2 minute half time.  No overtime, games may end in a tie.

• Teams may sub players at any time on the fly. Players entering the field should only do so after the players they are replacing have left the field. Players leaving the field cannot touch or interfere with the play at all, in such cases a free kick will be awarded to the opposing team. Players must enter and leave the field at the mid-field line.

• Referees’ decisions are final, no protests allowed.

FIELDS

• Fields will be 52 feet wide by 84 feet long with a mid-field line and circle.  

• There will be a goal box directly in front of the goal. No player may touch the ball within the goal box area, however players may move within the goal box area.

Rules of Play – FIFA rules apply with the following modifications:

• No off sides
• No slide tackling. Slide tacking will result in indirect free kick
• No throw-ins.  The ball shall be kicked in from the sideline.
• Goal kicks may be taken from any point on the end line
• With the exception of corner and penalty kicks, all free kicks are indirect kicks.

Penalty kicks are awarded if in the opinion of the referee, a scoring opportunity was denied by the infraction  in the attacking half of the field.  Penalty kicks are taken from the middle of the mid-field line with all players  behind the mid-field line.  A goal may be scored directly from a penalty kick.  If a goal is not scored, the      defending team is awarded a goal kick.  Penalty kicks are not live balls.

Scoring –goals can be scored from anywhere on the offensive half of the field of play. The ball must be touched (either by offense or defense) within the attacking team’s offensive half of the field.  A goal may be scored directly from a penalty kick and corner kick 

Kick-off to start each half of play or restart play after a score.  The kick-off may be played in any direction.  A goal may not be scored directly from a kick-off.

Goal box area violation – if a defender touches the ball in their defensive goal box area, a goal is awarded to the offensive team.  If the offensive team touches the ball in the offensive goal box area – no goal is allowed and a goal kick is awarded to the defensive team. Any part of the ball or player’s body on the line is considered in the box. If the ball comes to a complete stop within the goal box area, a goal kick is awarded regardless of which team touched it last.

Player Ejection – Referees have the right to eject a player from the game as a result of an incident worthy of sending the player off (red card).  If the ejected player was on the field, the team may replace the player with a rostered substitute, the team does not play short unless there are no available substitutes.

**Once a game gets to an 8 goal difference, the competitive part of the game will stop and that will be the recorded score. After that the game will continue as a friendly game with the coaches working together to keep the scoring under control. This can be done by mixing the teams together or have the loosing team add more players to the field.