Laws of the Game for referees

Reviewed against Laws of the Game 2026/27These pages explain the Laws in our own words. They are not the Laws themselves. The official text is published by The IFAB and is free to read:Laws of the Game. Halfline is not affiliated with or endorsed by The IFAB, FIFA, US Soccer, the NFHS or the NCAA.

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What changed in the Laws of the Game 2026/27 Laws — the changes that alter what you do on the field, in force since 1 July 2026.
High school, college and IFAB: every difference — the clock, substitutions, re-entry and cautions change from competition to competition in the US.
Misconduct codes reference — every caution and send-off code, in the sets US referees report with.

Who writes the Laws

The Laws of the Game are written and amended by The IFAB, the International Football Association Board, not by FIFA alone. Changes are agreed at the Annual General Meeting, published in the spring and come into force on 1 July each year, unless a competition already in progress keeps the previous edition until its season ends.

One set of Laws covers the whole game, but competitions may modify parts of them within limits the Laws set out — the number of substitutes, the length of periods in youth football, and whether temporary dismissals (sin bins) are used. In the United States, high school soccer follows NFHS rules and college soccer follows NCAA rules, which differ from the Laws in ways that matter every match.

How these pages are kept accurate

Each page names the edition it was written against and the date it was last reviewed.
The Laws change on 1 July each year; every page here is re-checked against the new edition.
Where a rule differs for high school, college or youth soccer, the page says so.
Where the Laws leave a decision to the referee, we say that rather than inventing a threshold.
Last reviewed: 16 September 2026.

Found something out of date or wrong? Tell us — corrections are published with a new review date.