Section 7: Violations & Penalties
Direct free kick offences (Law 12, Section 1). A direct free kick is awarded if a player commits any of the following against an opponent in a manner the referees consider careless, reckless or using excessive force: charging, jumping at, kicking or attempting to kick, pushing, striking or attempting to strike (including a head-butt), tackling or challenging, or tripping. A direct free kick is also awarded for deliberate handball, holding an opponent, impeding an opponent with contact, biting or spitting, and for throwing or kicking an object at the ball, an opponent or a match official. "Careless" carries no sanction; "reckless" is cautioned; "using excessive force" is sent off.
Indirect free kick offences (Law 12, Section 2). An indirect free kick is awarded for dangerous play, impeding an opponent's progress without contact, dissent or offensive/insulting/abusive language, preventing the goalkeeper from releasing the ball, initiating a deliberate trick to circumvent the Law via a pass to the goalkeeper, the goalkeeper's four-second violation, and the goalkeeper's back-pass violation described in Section 5 above.
Accumulated fouls and the DFKSAF (Law 13, Sections 4 and 5). Every offence penalised with a direct free kick counts as an accumulated foul against that team for the period in which it is committed, and the count is recorded in the match report. A team's sixth and each subsequent accumulated foul in the same period is penalised with a direct free kick beginning with the sixth accumulated foul (the "DFKSAF"), taken — at the kicker's choice, if the offence occurred inside the designated zone — either from the 10m mark or from the place the offence was committed. The defending team may not form a defensive wall against a DFKSAF, and the goalkeeper must stay at least 5m from the ball until it has been kicked. If the sixth or a later accumulated foul is instead committed inside the offender's own penalty area, a penalty kick is awarded rather than a DFKSAF.
The penalty kick (Law 14, Section 1). A penalty kick is awarded for a direct-free-kick offence committed inside the offender's own penalty area. It is taken from the penalty mark, 6m from the midpoint between the goalposts. The defending goalkeeper must remain on the goal line, facing the kicker, between the posts, until the ball is kicked; all other players must be on the pitch, at least 5m from the penalty mark, behind it, and outside the penalty area.
Cautions and sendings-off (Law 12, Section 3). The yellow card communicates a caution; the red card communicates a sending-off. A player is sent off for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity or a goal through a deliberate handball or by moving the goal, serious foul play, violent conduct, biting or spitting at someone, using offensive/insulting/abusive language or action, or receiving a second caution in the same match. Denying the opposing team a goal or an obvious goalscoring opportunity through a non-deliberate handball, or through an offence that was a genuine attempt to play the ball or challenge for it, results only in a caution once the corresponding penalty kick or free kick has been awarded.