Soccer Explained cover art

Soccer Explained

Soccer Explained

Written by: Treencee Russell and Sy Hoekstra
Listen for free

About this listen

 A guide to the essentials of soccer for casual viewers and the soccer curious. Two American fans, one of whom owns a soccer team, give you everything you need to join the excitement around the fastest growing sport in the US, just in time for the World Cup! In short, entertaining episodes, We cover the rules, strategy, leagues, and more, comparing soccer with the major American sports. We'll help you wrap your head around, and maybe even fall in love with, the beautiful game.Sybren Hoekstra Football
Episodes
  • S1E6 Refs and Discipline: Yellow Cards, Red Cards, Free Kicks, Penalties, and More

    S1E6 Refs and Discipline: Yellow Cards, Red Cards, Free Kicks, Penalties, and More
    Apr 16 2026
    If you’ve ever watched a soccer match and wondered why a referee whipped a brightly colored card out of their pocket, you’re not alone. On this episode of Soccer Explained, we break down sanctions (the official term for the discipline players receive for breaking rules) and the officials who keep the game running. This post covers the highlights, but the episode also has stories, tangents, and the origin story of perhaps Soccer’s greatest heel. Give it a listen! Yellow Cards and Red Cards Not every foul gets an official sanction. Sometimes the ref gives a verbal warning first, which is informal. It doesn’t have real consequences for discipline, unlike, say, a baseball ump signaling to the dugout. But when things escalate, out come the cards. Refs carry actual physical cards in their pockets that they flash at players to indicate they’re giving out a sanction. A yellow card is an official caution, also called a “booking” because the ref writes the player’s name and the details of their foul in a little notebook. Two yellows in one game and the player is sent off, meaning their team plays the rest of the match a player down. A red card is an immediate ejection with the same consequence. How bad is playing down a player? Imagine a power play in hockey that lasts the entire game. It completely transforms the match. Coaches and staff can get carded too, and a red card usually means sitting out the next game or more in that league or tournament, even if the suspension has to carry over to a future season or competition. How Play Restarts After a Foul When a foul happens, play usually stops, with one big exception: the advantage rule. If the fouled team actually benefits from play continuing, the ref lets it go. Think of it like declining a penalty in football, except the ref makes the call instead of the coaches. They signal it by extending their arms so everyone knows the foul was seen, and they wait for the next stoppage in play to hand out any sanctions. The most common restart is an indirect free kick, where the fouled team gets to restart play with the ball where the foul happened, but can’t shoot directly at the goal. Two players on their team have to touch the ball before a shot. Defenders have to stand at least 10 yards away from the ball until play resumes, unless the kicking team opts for a quick restart and the defenders didn’t have time to take their position. A direct free kick is the same, but you can shoot right away. Near the penalty area, these become dangerous scoring chances. When defenders line up to block the shot, that’s called a “wall,” and players on the offensive team have to be a yard away from the wall before the kick happens. If a foul that would require a direct free kick happens inside the penalty area, the result is a penalty kick: a shot from 12 yards out with only the keeper in the way. The keeper has to have one foot on or behind the goal line until the kicker strikes the ball. The odds heavily favor the kicker, making it one of the most serious consequences in the game. How Refs Choose Sanctions Refs often have a lot of discretion in deciding which sanctions to give out. Overall, the harshest sanctions go to fouls that are intentional, repeated, dangerous to player safety, or that constitute the “denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity” (abbreviated DOGSO, pronounced “dog-zo”). Who Are All These Referees? The Referee is the official title for the main authority on the field, calling fouls, issuing sanctions, keeping time, deciding whether goals count, and more. You’ll also hear them called “head referee” “center ref,” or other variations. Two Assistant Referees (Ars, or “linesmen”) run the touchlines throwing flags to signal they think the referee should make offside, out-of-bounds, or other calls. The fourth official stands near the benches, managing substitutions and other administrative tasks, and holding up the board showing the minimum stoppage time the center ref has decided to add. The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) is a more recent addition. Sitting in a video room off the field, the VAR can recommend that the center ref review a play on a pitch-side monitor. Players and coaches cannot challenge calls. Reviews are limited to offenses in the moments leading up to goals, whether goals count, penalty kick decisions, red cards (not two yellows, just reds), and questions of whether fouls were given to the wrong player. Not every professional league has VAR, but the World Cup and MLS both do. For leagues that don’t, there are Additional Assistant Referees, called AARs or goal line refs, who stand near the goals to monitor what VARs cover. The Human Element One thing we emphasized on the show is how much subjectivity is built into soccer officiating. Some calls are fairly black-and-white, like offside or handball. But for many fouls, the ref has enormous discretion. What fans and commentators usually care most about ...
    Show More Show Less
    31 mins
  • S1E5 Soccer Rules Explained: Handballs, Offside, Diving, and More

    S1E5 Soccer Rules Explained: Handballs, Offside, Diving, and More
    Apr 9 2026
    In this episode of Soccer Explained, we walk through the basics of the rules you need to know to enjoy a game. This is part one of a two-parter. Next time we’ll get into the punishments for breaking these rules, plus the referees who enforce them. Listen to the whole episode for the laughs and stories, including one of the greatest goals in soccer history, and another that might be the most controversial, both by Argentinian legend Diego Maradona in a single World Cup match. Handballs The basic rule is simple. Outfield players can’t touch the ball with their hands or arms below the armpit. Goalkeepers can use their hands, but only inside their own penalty area. Of course, every soccer rule has exceptions. If a player’s arm is in a “natural position” and the ball happens to hit it, the ref will usually let it go. If the arm is in an “unnatural position,” it’s a handball even if the contact wasn’t on purpose. Refs use the natural versus unnatural position idea as a stand-in for intent, since they can’t read minds. Two more wrinkles to know. First, if a player scores a goal immediately after the ball touched their arm, it’s a handball regardless of intent. Second, even goalkeepers inside the penalty area have limits. If a teammate deliberately passes the ball to the keeper, the keeper can’t pick it up. Once the keeper has handled the ball and let it go, they can’t pick it up again until another player touches it. The Offside Rule First, a public service announcement from us. It’s offside, not offsides. No “S.” Here’s the setup. You’re in an offside position when four things are true at the same time. Your team has the ball, you’re on the opponent’s half of the field, you’re ahead of the ball, and you’re behind the second to last opponent. Why second to last? The rule is really trying to make sure you’re not just hanging out behind the last defender with only the keeper between you and the goal. But as long as any two opposing players are between you and the goal, you’re not offside. Being in an offside position is not, by itself, illegal. The violation happens when a player in an offside position gets involved in the play. That means touching the ball, interfering with a defender, grabbing a rebound, or otherwise gaining an advantage for your team as they try to score. The most common scenario when these violations occur is a teammate passing the ball to a player who is in an offside position. In this case, the key question is where the receiver was at the moment the pass was kicked, not where they first touched the ball. Two more things worth remembering. Offside doesn’t apply on throw-ins, corner kicks, or goal kicks. And the rule isn’t there to punish fast players. If you’re level with the second-to-last defender when the pass is made and you simply outrun them to the ball, that’s great soccer, not a violation. Challenges and Fouls: Going for the Ball, Not the Person A challenge is when one player goes after another to win the ball, block a pass, or force them to change direction. A fair challenge is aimed at the ball and doesn’t involve careless or reckless contact with the other player. An unfair one involves things like tripping, kicking, pushing, grabbing, or going in with excessive force, even if the contact wasn’t fully intended. Diving: Soccer’s Most Controversial Habit Diving, officially called simulation, is when a player tries to trick the ref into thinking they were fouled when they weren’t, or they exaggerate the severity of a foul. It’s against the rules. It also happens constantly, and there’s a never-ending argument in the soccer world about whether it’s a betrayal of the spirit of the game or just smart strategy. Time Wasting You can’t deliberately drag your feet to restart play. Strolling to the ball for a throw-in or a corner, kicking the ball far away after the ref blows the whistle, keepers holding the ball for too long—these are all against the rules. Fouls for wasting time exist to stop a team who is ahead from doing things solely to run down the clock. There’s no taking a knee in soccer. If you’re winning and you want to kill time during open play, you can pass the ball around or dribble into the corner, and the ref will usually treat that as acceptable game management. It’s the other team’s job to come take it from you and make something happen. Substitutions: It’s Complicated, So Here’s the World Cup Version Substitution rules vary a lot from competition to competition, but they all share the same shape. You have a starting XI, a bench full of players, and a limited number of subs you’re allowed to put in during certain moments in the match. Here’s how it works at the World Cup. You get twelve players on the bench, but only five of them can enter the match. There are four opportunities to put those five subs in: halftime, plus three “substitution windows” during play. The team chooses ...
    Show More Show Less
    33 mins
  • S1E4 The Structure of a Soccer Match Explained: A Roadmap from Kickoff to the Final Whistle

    S1E4 The Structure of a Soccer Match Explained: A Roadmap from Kickoff to the Final Whistle
    Apr 2 2026
    On this episode of Soccer Explained, we break down the basics of how a soccer game proceeds, from the opening kickoff to the final whistle, extra time, and penalty shootouts. Below is a summary of what we covered, but as always, listen to the full episode for the stories, laughs, and passion that make the beautiful game so fun! If you need a refresher on the different parts of a soccer pitch, check out the post and handy diagram from episode 2, The Soccer Pitch Explained! The Basics: Kick the Ball, Don’t Use Your Hands You probably know the big idea: soccer is the one where you try to kick the ball into the big goal, and you can’t use your hands. More precisely, you cannot intentionally touch the ball with your hands or arms. There are two exceptions: the goalkeeper can handle the ball inside the penalty area, and players throw the ball in when it goes out of bounds over the touchline. Otherwise, keep your mitts off the ball. Soccer Rarely Stops for Weather Soccer is played in just about any weather. Officials can stop games due to weather if the players are actually in danger, but that almost never happens. We talked about the 2025 Canadian Premier League championship game that was played in a blizzard, featuring an incredible bicycle kick goal that the press dubbed “the icicle kick.” How the Game Is Structured A soccer match is 90 minutes long, split into two 45-minute halves with about a 15 or 20-minute halftime. So the whole game takes roughly two hours. There’s a coin toss before the match. The winning captain chooses to either kick off or pick which goal to attack in the first half. The team that lost the coin toss does whichever option is not selected by the winner. Teams switch sides of the pitch at halftime, and whichever team didn’t kick off the first half gets to kick off the second. When Does Gameplay Stop? One thing that makes soccer unique: gameplay rarely stops, and when it does, it’s usually brief. Here are the main reasons play pauses: Throw-ins: When the ball crosses the touchline, whichever team did not touch the ball last throws it back in. You’ve probably noticed that specific two-handed, over-the-head throwing style soccer players use. They have to throw it that way; it’s the rule. Goal kicks: If the attacking team is the last to touch the ball before it crosses the goal line, the defending team restarts play with a kick from their goal area. The opposing team has to be outside the penalty box until the kick happens. Corner kicks: If the defending team touches it last before it goes over the goal line, the attacking team gets a corner kick. The ball is placed in the corner arc, and the defending team has to stand at least 10 yards away until the ball is kicked back into play. This is a tense moment because a lot of goals come off corner kicks. So you’ll see nearly every player on the field crowd around the goal to try and either score or defend. Play also stops for injuries, fouls, goal celebrations, and a few other moments that are also typically brief. The Clock and Stoppage Time Unlike football, basketball, or hockey, the clock in soccer only stops in extremely rare circumstances; certainly not for any of the gameplay stops listed above. Instead, the officials add “stoppage time,” also called “added time” or, informally, “injury time,” at the end of each half to make up for the time when gameplay stopped. Just after the 45 or 90 minute goes by, the officials announce the minimum amount of stoppage time that will be played, and the game usually runs a bit longer than that. The ref decides when to blow the final whistle and end the half. Waiting for the final whistle at the end of the match is incredibly tense if the game is tied or a team is up by only one goal. One quirky detail about the clock: during first-half stoppage time, it keeps counting past 45. But when the second half starts, it resets to 45:00. In writing, you might see first-half stoppage time noted as “45+1” instead of 46, or “45+3” instead of 48, to distinguish it from the early minutes of the second half. Second-half stoppage time just keeps going past 90:00 into the 91st minute, the 92nd, and so on. Here’s a pro tip to immediately make you sound like you watch soccer: the minute of the game is the number to the left of the colon on the clock plus one. So if the clock reads 15:37, you’re in the 16th minute, not the 15th. Getting this wrong is the soccer equivalent of calling a run in baseball a “point.” It lets soccer fans know right away that you’re not one of them. Extra Time (a.k.a. Overtime) In tournaments like the World Cup or in playoff matches, games can’t end in a draw. Someone has to win. If the score is tied after 90 minutes (plus stoppage time), the game goes to “extra time,” which is soccer’s version of overtime. Extra time consists of two 15-minute halves, so the maximum total minutes of play in the game is 120 plus stoppage time. The clock ...
    Show More Show Less
    21 mins
No reviews yet