May 2007
Authorized by the International Football Association Board

Subject to the agreement of the national association concerned and provided the principles
of these Laws are maintained, the Laws may be modified in their application for matches
for players of under 16 years of age, for women footballers, for veteran footballers (over 35
years) and for players with disabilities.
Any or all of the following modifications are permissible:

• size of the field of play
• size, weight and material of the ball
• width between the goalposts and height of the crossbar from the ground
• the duration of the periods of play
• substitutions

Further modifications are only allowed with the consent of the International Football
Association Board.

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Law of the Soccer Game 2007

Popularity: 2% [?]

The current Laws of the Game (LOTG) consist of 17 individual laws:

• Law 1: The Field of Play
• Law 2: The Ball
• Law 3: The Number of Players
• Law 4: The Players’ Equipment
• Law 5: The Referee
• Law 6: The Assistant Referees
• Law 7: The Duration of the Match
• Law 8: The Start and Restart of Play
• Law 9: The Ball In and Out of Play
• Law 10: The Method of Scoring
• Law 11: Offside
• Law 12: Fouls and Misconduct
• Law 13: Free Kicks
• Law 14: The Penalty Kick
• Law 15: The Throw-In
• Law 16: The Goal Kick
• Law 17: The Corner Kick

Even today, the above 17 laws are less than 50 pages of an 5.5″ by 8.5″ pamphlet. This compared to other professional sports where the rule books number into the hundreds and thousands of pages. In 1997, a major revision dropped whole paragraphs and clarified many sections to simplify and strengthen the principles. These laws are written in British Common Law style. Meant to be guidelines and goals of principle that are then clarified through practice, tradition, and enforcement by the referees.

The actual law book has long contained 50 pages more of material, organized in numerous sections, that contain many diagrams but just did not seem to fit with the main 17 laws. In 2007, many of these additional sections along with much of the material from the FIFA Questions and Answers (Q&A), were restructured and put into a new Additional Instructions and Guidelines for the Referee section. This section is organized under the same 17 law points, consists of concise paragraphs and phrases like the laws themselves, and added much clarifying material that previously was only available from National organizations and word of mouth

Popularity: 2% [?]