Fouls, Cards and Accumulated Fouls

Careless, reckless or forceful physical offences such as kicking, tripping, charging, pushing, holding or a deliberate handball are punished with a direct free kick.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12 · recall

A goal may be scored directly against the opponents from a direct free kick; from an indirect free kick a second player must touch the ball first.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · recall

A direct-free-kick offence committed by a defender inside his own penalty area, while the ball is in play, is punished with a penalty kick.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 14 · applied

Sliding in to challenge an opponent who is playing or trying to play the ball is a direct-free-kick foul in futsal, whatever the angle; sliding for a loose ball with no opponent involved is allowed.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12 · applied

It is the challenge that is punished, not the slide itself; sliding to play a loose ball with no opponent contesting it is perfectly legal.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12 · applied

Every foul punished by a direct free kick is added to the team's accumulated-foul tally for that period; indirect-free-kick offences are not.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · recall

Deliberate handball is treated no differently from a trip or a push here, so it feeds the same running total for that period.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12 · applied

A direct free kick is taken from the place where the offence occurred, unless it was inside the offending team's own penalty area, when it becomes a penalty kick.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · recall

A charge is only an offence when it is careless, reckless or uses excessive force; a fair, shoulder-to-shoulder challenge for a ball within playing distance is not a foul.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12 · applied

The referee may let play continue if the fouled team keeps an advantage, returning to caution the offender at the next stoppage; the foul is still recorded if it was a direct-free-kick offence.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 5 · applied

Dangerous play, impeding an opponent without contact, and the goalkeeper's handling offences are punished with an indirect free kick; the physical fouls give a direct one.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12 · recall

For an indirect free kick the referee raises an arm above his head and keeps it there until the ball has been touched by another player or goes out of play.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · recall

The word "indirect" is the whole point here: nothing counts until a second player has touched the ball, so the strike is waved out.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · applied

The bar on scoring straight away applies only to the very first contact; bring in a second player and the restriction has done its job.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · applied

The tally is built purely from the physical fouls; dangerous play, obstruction and the goalkeeper's handling offences never move it, however often they crop up.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · recall

A goalkeeper may not handle a ball deliberately kicked to him by a team-mate; the offence is an indirect free kick to the opponents, taken from where he handled it.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12 · applied

Impeding an opponent's progress without making contact is an indirect-free-kick offence; if there is contact, it becomes a direct free kick.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12 · applied

The raised arm tells everyone the kick is indirect; the referee lowers it once the ball has been touched by a second player or has gone out of play, and only then can a goal stand.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · recall

It makes no difference that his feet did the work: touching the ball again in his own half before an opponent gets to it, or before it crosses halfway, breaks the same restriction.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12 · applied

At a free kick less than five metres from the goal, defenders may stand on their own goal line between the posts; elsewhere they must be at least five metres from the ball.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · applied

A yellow card is a caution: a recorded warning for offences such as unsporting behaviour, dissent or delaying the restart; it does not reduce the team.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12 · recall

A second caution in the same match means a second yellow card followed by a red; the player is sent off and the team plays short for two minutes.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12 · recall

Serious foul play, violent conduct, spitting, offensive language and denying an obvious goalscoring chance are sending-off offences; dissent and delaying are only cautions.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12 · recall

Fouling an opponent to deny a clear goalscoring opportunity is a red-card offence; the team is then also a player short for two minutes.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12 · applied

Substitutes and substituted players are subject to the same cautions and send-offs as those on the court; a substitute sent off before taking the field cannot be used, but the team on court is not reduced.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12 · applied

No team-mate leaves; the sent-off player is simply not replaced, so the team plays four against five until the two minutes are up or the opponents score.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3.8 · applied

A team official sent off leaves the technical area, but the team is not reduced on the court; only a player's red card brings the two-minute reduction.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12 · applied

The referee keeps the power to show yellow and red cards from the pre-match inspection until he leaves the field of play after the final whistle.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 5 · recall

When a player commits more than one offence at the same time, the referee punishes the most serious one; a send-off offence outranks a caution.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12 · applied

Cards punish an individual's misconduct; the accumulated-foul count punishes a team for repeated fouling in a period, with a harsher free kick from the sixth foul on, whether or not any card was shown.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · recall

The tally tracks the physical fouls, the ones giving a direct kick or a penalty; a team cannot be pushed toward the sixth by dangerous play or a goalkeeper handling offence.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · recall

Each team's accumulated fouls are counted separately in each period; the tally goes back to zero at the start of the second period.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · recall

First-period accumulated fouls do not carry into the second period; each team begins the second half on zero.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · applied

The running total is displayed for both teams, and once a team reaches five fouls the officials indicate that the next one will be a sixth-foul free kick.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · recall

Extra time is treated as a continuation of the second period, so the accumulated fouls from the second period are still counted and any in extra time add to that total.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · applied

Only direct-free-kick fouls are counted, so an indirect-free-kick offence does not become an accumulated foul, whatever the running total.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · applied

From the sixth accumulated foul on, each further direct-free-kick foul by that team is a free kick with no defensive wall, taken from the ten-metre mark or, if nearer goal, the place of the foul.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · recall

The sixth foul happened further from goal than the ten-metre mark, so the free kick is taken from that mark; only a foul nearer to goal than the mark lets the attackers choose the foul spot instead.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · applied

Because the foul was nearer to goal than the ten-metre mark, the attacking team may take the free kick from the mark or from where the foul happened, whichever they want.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · applied

The count is kept per team; a team's sixth foul brings the no-wall free kick against that team only, and the opponents' tally is entirely separate.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · recall

A sixth-foul free kick is taken with no defensive wall; the kicker must try to score directly and may not pass it to a team-mate.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · recall

Unless the foul was nearer to goal than the ten-metre mark, the sixth-foul free kick is taken from the second penalty mark, ten metres out.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · recall

The goalkeeper must stay in his own goal, between the posts and on the goal line, and at least five metres from the ball until it is kicked.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · recall

Every player except the kicker and the goalkeeper must be on the court, behind an imaginary line level with the ball and parallel to the goal line, at least five metres from the ball and not in the penalty area.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · recall

At a sixth-foul free kick the taker must kick the ball forward with the intention of scoring; he cannot pass it to a team-mate.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · applied

The post is not a player, so a taker who scores from his own rebound off the woodwork has touched the ball twice with no one else involved; the goal is disallowed and an indirect free kick given.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · applied

There is no wall, but players must stay five metres from the ball and behind it; a defender who comes forward early and the kick is then missed or saved means a retake.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · applied

The four-second limit applies to a sixth-foul free kick as to any other; the taker must strike it within four seconds of the referee signalling that it may be taken.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · recall

A penalty kick is awarded for a direct-free-kick foul inside the area, so it adds to the team's accumulated-foul count like any other direct-free-kick foul.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · applied

Every foul from the sixth on is a no-wall free kick from the ten-metre mark unless the foul was nearer goal, so late fouling when already over the limit gives the opponents a clear shot.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 13 · applied