Free kicks explained: direct or indirect, the wall and the one-metre rule

A free kick is how play restarts after many offences, and there are two kinds: a direct free kick, from which a goal can be scored straight away, and an indirect one, from which the ball must touch another player first. Which one is given depends on the offence, and the rules for the wall, the distance and the taker are the same for both. What follows is based on Law 13 of the IFAB's Laws of the Game 2026/27, with the offences themselves in Law 12.

What is the difference between a direct and an indirect free kick?

Above all, what happens if the ball goes straight into the net. If a direct free kick is kicked directly into the opponents' goal, it is a goal. If an indirect free kick goes straight in, it is not: the other team gets a goal kick. If either kind is kicked directly into the kicker's own goal, the opponents get a corner kick.

So for a goal to count from an indirect free kick, the ball must first touch another player, of either team. In the IFAB's example, a free kick awarded for offside is kicked straight into the opponents' goal, and the restart is a goal kick.

Which offences give a direct free kick?

Law 12 lists them. The first group are offences against an opponent committed carelessly, recklessly or with excessive force: charging, jumping at, kicking or attempting to kick, pushing, striking or attempting to strike (a head-butt included), tackling or challenging, and tripping or attempting to trip. Any of these that involves contact is a direct free kick.

The second group are offences whatever the manner: a handball offence (except by the goalkeeper inside their own penalty area), holding an opponent, impeding an opponent with contact, biting or spitting at someone on the team lists or a match official, and throwing an object at the ball, an opponent or a match official.

A direct free kick offence committed by a player inside their own penalty area is a penalty kick instead, under Law 14. The place of the offence decides it: in an IFAB example, an attacker fouled outside the area who falls into it gets a free kick, not a penalty.

Which offences give an indirect free kick?

Mostly offences without contact, plus a few that belong to the goalkeeper. Law 12 gives an indirect free kick for playing in a dangerous manner, impeding an opponent without contact, dissent and other verbal offences, preventing the goalkeeper from releasing the ball, and starting a deliberate trick to pass the ball to the goalkeeper with the head, chest, knee or similar to get round the law. All verbal offences are penalised with an indirect free kick.

A goalkeeper inside their own penalty area concedes one for handling the ball again after releasing it and before another player has touched it, or for handling it after a team-mate has deliberately kicked it to them or after receiving it directly from a team-mate's throw-in. Offside is restarted the same way, under Law 11.

How do you know a free kick is indirect?

The referee raises an arm above the head and keeps it there until the kick has been taken and the ball touches another player, goes out of play, or clearly cannot go straight in. If the referee forgets the signal and the ball is kicked directly into the goal, the kick is retaken.

Where is a free kick taken?

From the place where the offence happened, with a few exceptions. An indirect free kick to the attacking team for an offence inside the opponents' goal area is moved out to the nearest point on the goal-area line parallel to the goal line. A free kick to the defending team in its own goal area may be taken from anywhere in that area. An offence by a player off the field while the ball is in play is restarted on the boundary line nearest to it, and a direct free kick offence there becomes a penalty if that point is within the offender's penalty area.

How far back must the opponents stand?

At least 9.15 m (10 yds) from the ball until it is in play, unless they are on their own goal line between the posts. That exception matters for an indirect free kick less than 9.15 m from the goal line, where defenders may stand on their goal line between the posts. When the defending team takes a free kick inside its own penalty area, the opponents must also stay outside that area.

If an opponent is too close when the kick is taken, the kick is retaken unless the referee can play advantage. But a team that takes the kick quickly accepts the risk: if an opponent less than 9.15 m away intercepts it, play goes on. An opponent who deliberately stops a free kick being taken quickly is cautioned for delaying the restart, and failing to respect the required distance is itself a cautionable offence in Law 12.

What is the one-metre rule at the wall?

Where three or more defending players form a wall, every attacking player must stay at least 1 m (1 yd) from it until the ball is in play. An attacker closer than that when the kick is taken concedes an indirect free kick, taken from where the attacker was standing, and in the IFAB's example, where a goal is scored straight from the free kick, the referee instead gives the defending team an indirect free kick. Once the ball has been kicked and clearly moved, the attackers may move in.

The rule came into the laws on 1 June 2019, among the 2019/20 changes approved at the IFAB's annual meeting that March. Two smaller points: a defender lying or kneeling behind the wall commits no offence, and in the IFAB's answer, such a player can count as part of a wall of two standing defenders, so the metre applies.

What must the player taking the free kick do?

Kick a stationary ball and not touch it again until another player has. The ball is in play once it is kicked and clearly moves; it can be lifted with one foot or both feet together, and feinting to take the kick is allowed. A second touch by the kicker is an indirect free kick to the opponents, and a handball offence by the kicker is a direct free kick, or a penalty if it is inside the kicker's own penalty area, except that a goalkeeper doing so there concedes an indirect free kick.

The IFAB's examples are strict about it: a free kick that hits the crossbar and comes back to the kicker cannot be passed on to a team-mate who scores. When the kick is taken correctly, kicking the ball deliberately at an opponent to play it again is allowed, unless it is careless, reckless or uses excessive force. Since 2026/27, Law 5 also says the referee may play advantage when a restart is taken incorrectly and the opponents gain the ball, rather than ordering a retake.

Taking a free kick from the wrong place to force a retake is one of the ways of delaying the restart for which a player is cautioned. A team may take a quick free kick even after an offence that deserves a card, but only if it has a clear goal-scoring opportunity and the referee has not started the disciplinary sanction procedure.

In numbers

In the first nine Premier League matchdays, all 90 matches, the match statistics recorded 2,098 fouls, 23.31 a match. Not every one became a free kick: a foul in a team's own penalty area is a penalty, and the referee may play advantage. Liverpool committed the most, 128, and Everton the fewest, 74. The most in one match were the 38 in Aston Villa's 2–1 win over Manchester City on 24 October.

The same matches had 345 offsides, each restarted with an indirect free kick. The provider records one caution for not retreating, Bryan Mbeumo's on 81 minutes of Chelsea 2–0 Manchester United on 31 October.

The Premier League's fixtures and match statistics are on the Premier League page.

Sources: IFAB Laws of the Game 2026/27, Law 13 – Free Kicks, Law 12 – Fouls and Misconduct, Law 14 – The Penalty Kick, Law 11 – Offside, IFAB law changes 2026/27, IFAB on the Laws of the Game 2019/20.