Section 4: Players & Officials
Team composition (Rule 5.1): Each team declares four men and four women as its starting line-up, with two players of each gender placed in each of the two zones (defence and attack). Remaining players are listed as substitutes. If a team's line-up becomes incomplete, play may continue only if each zone retains at least three players from each team, matched by gender — for example, one woman and two men cannot be opposed by only one man and two women.
Substitutes (Rule 4.2): A team may name a maximum of six substitute players — three men and three women — who must remain seated on the bench except when warming up prior to entering. Rule 5.9 caps the number of substitutions at eight per team, and a substitution may only occur during a stoppage in play, following a specific coach-to-jury request procedure.
Captain (Rule 4.3): One starting player on each team serves as captain for the entire match, identified by a visible arm band or shoulder tape in a contrasting colour. The captain represents the team, is responsible for players' conduct, and may raise concerns with the referees in a reasonable, correct, and infrequent manner; misuse of this privilege is treated as misbehaviour under Rule 7.6.
Coach and assistant coach (Rule 4.4): Each team is accompanied by one coach, who must sit on the team's allocated bench and may leave that position — without disturbing others, and remaining along the sideline — to instruct players, request or use a time-out (Rule 5.8), or request and execute a substitution (Rule 5.9). A team may also name one assistant coach, who assumes the coach's duties only when the coach is absent; only one of the two coaches may be off the bench at any given time.
Referee duo (Rule 4.6): Control of the game is the exclusive responsibility of a duo of two equally empowered referees, whose duties include verifying that the field, material, and equipment comply with Sections 1–3; starting, stopping, and restarting play by whistle; enforcing the rules (including the discretion to "play on" per Rule 7.2); using standardized signals to communicate decisions; correcting unfair advantages arising from outside interference; and taking disciplinary action against misbehaviour under Rule 7.6.
Jury, timekeeper, shot-clock operator, and scorekeeper (Rules 4.7–4.10): The jury assists the referee duo with match protocol and instructs and supervises the timekeeper, shot-clock operator, and scorekeeper. The timekeeper manages the real playing time (Rule 5.2); the shot-clock operator manages the 25-second attack-zone limit (Rule 6.16); and the scorekeeper operates the scoreboard (Rule 5.5).