{
  "id": "law-12-fouls-and-misconduct",
  "type": "entity",
  "name": "Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct",
  "summary": "Law 12 of the IFAB Laws of the Game (2026/27 edition) governs direct and indirect free kick offences, the handball offence, and misconduct: cautions (yellow card) and sending-off offences (red card), including denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (DOGSO).",
  "locale": "en",
  "tags": [
    "laws-of-the-game",
    "ifab",
    "fouls",
    "handball",
    "cards",
    "refereeing"
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "rel": "cross_references",
      "target": "law-13-free-kicks"
    }
  ],
  "questions": [
    "What is a direct free kick offence?",
    "When is handball an offence?",
    "What is the difference between careless, reckless and excessive force?",
    "When is a player sent off?"
  ],
  "claims": [
    {
      "id": "c1",
      "text": "A direct free kick is awarded when a player charges, jumps at, kicks, pushes, strikes, tackles, trips, holds or impedes an opponent with contact in a manner considered careless, reckless or using excessive force, or bites or spits at someone, or throws an object at the ball, an opponent or a match official.",
      "sources": [
        "ifab-law-12-2026-27"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.95
    },
    {
      "id": "c2",
      "text": "Careless means a lack of attention or consideration when making a challenge and requires no disciplinary sanction; reckless means acting with disregard to the danger to, or consequences for, an opponent and must be cautioned; using excessive force exceeds the necessary use of force and must be sanctioned with a sending-off.",
      "sources": [
        "ifab-law-12-2026-27"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.96
    },
    {
      "id": "c3",
      "text": "It is a handball offence if a player deliberately touches the ball with their hand or arm (for example moving the hand or arm towards the ball), or touches the ball with a hand or arm that has made their body unnaturally bigger, or scores in the opponents' goal directly from their hand or arm, or immediately after the ball has touched their hand or arm, even if accidental.",
      "sources": [
        "ifab-law-12-2026-27"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.96
    },
    {
      "id": "c4",
      "text": "Goalkeepers are exempt from the handball offence inside their own penalty area.",
      "sources": [
        "ifab-law-12-2026-27"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.96
    },
    {
      "id": "c5",
      "text": "Indirect free kick offences include playing in a dangerous manner, impeding an opponent without contact, dissent, preventing the goalkeeper from releasing the ball, and initiating a deliberate trick to pass the ball to the goalkeeper to circumvent the back-pass rule.",
      "sources": [
        "ifab-law-12-2026-27"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.94
    },
    {
      "id": "c6",
      "text": "Sending-off (red card) offences include serious foul play, violent conduct, biting or spitting, denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, offensive, insulting or abusive language or gestures, and receiving a second caution in the same match.",
      "sources": [
        "ifab-law-12-2026-27"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.96
    },
    {
      "id": "c7",
      "text": "When a player denies an obvious goal-scoring opportunity with an offence inside their own penalty area and the referee awards a penalty kick, the offender is cautioned (not sent off) if the offence was an attempt to play the ball or a challenge for the ball; in all other circumstances the offender must be sent off.",
      "sources": [
        "ifab-law-12-2026-27"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.95
    },
    {
      "id": "c8",
      "text": "New in 2026/27: when advantage is played for a DOGSO offence and the non-offending team scores as a result, there is no disciplinary sanction for the offender; and the DOGSO considerations now include the location and number of defenders and attackers.",
      "sources": [
        "ifab-law-changes-2026-27",
        "ifab-law-12-2026-27"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.9
    },
    {
      "id": "c9",
      "text": "This object reflects the 2026/27 edition of the Laws of the Game, the current edition published by The IFAB at the verification date.",
      "sources": [
        "ifab-laws-2026-27",
        "ifab-law-12-2026-27"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.98
    }
  ],
  "takeaways": [],
  "faqs": [],
  "evidence_tier": "primary",
  "evidence": {
    "level": "industry_observation",
    "source_types": [
      "industry_observation"
    ]
  },
  "moat_flag": true,
  "winning_edge": "Handball is the single most edition-drifted rule of the last decade; secondary sources still cite pre-2021 wording. Claims here are bound to the 2026/27 IFAB text of Law 12 with the edition pinned per source.",
  "confidence": 0.95,
  "last_verified": "2026-08-08",
  "canonical_url": "https://futbolatlas.app/k/law-12-fouls-and-misconduct",
  "api_url": "https://futbolatlas.app/api/k/law-12-fouls-and-misconduct.json",
  "jsonld": {
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "name": "Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct",
    "description": "Law 12 of the IFAB Laws of the Game (2026/27 edition) governs direct and indirect free kick offences, the handball offence, and misconduct: cautions (yellow card) and sending-off offences (red card), including denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (DOGSO).",
    "url": "https://futbolatlas.app/k/law-12-fouls-and-misconduct",
    "license": "https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-4.0.html",
    "dateModified": "2026-08-08",
    "citation": [
      {
        "@type": "CreativeWork",
        "name": "IFAB Laws of the Game — editions index (current edition 2026/27)",
        "url": "https://www.theifab.com/laws-of-the-game-documents/"
      },
      {
        "@type": "CreativeWork",
        "name": "Law 12 — Fouls and Misconduct (Laws of the Game 2026/27)",
        "url": "https://www.theifab.com/laws/latest/fouls-and-misconduct/"
      },
      {
        "@type": "CreativeWork",
        "name": "Law changes 2026/27 — changes and clarifications (IFAB)",
        "url": "https://www.theifab.com/law-changes/latest/"
      }
    ],
    "@type": "Article",
    "headline": "Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct"
  }
}