Lesson 2 of 5 · 5 min
The ball goes out and the game restarts three different ways. Which one you get is decided by two things only: which line it crossed, and who touched it last.
The two long edges of the pitch are the touchlines. When the whole ball crosses one of them, play restarts with a throw-in, taken by the team that did not touch it last. Throw-ins are by far the most common restart in football, which is why the next module treats them as a real tactical opportunity rather than a formality.
The two short edges are the goal lines. When the ball crosses one of these without going into the net, the restart is either a corner kick or a goal kick — and everything depends on who touched it last.
This is the distinction that confuses new watchers more than any other, and the rule behind it is short. If an attacker put the ball out over the defending team's goal line — an overhit cross, a shot dragged wide — the defending team restarts with a goal kick. If a defender put it out — a clearance, a deflection, a save pushed round the post — the attacking team gets a corner kick from the nearest corner arc. Attackers cause goal kicks; defenders cause corners.
For every one of these decisions the ball has to have completely crossed the line, in the air or on the ground. A ball touching the line is still in play, and a ball curling out and back in never left at all if no part of it fully cleared the line. This is why a defender sprinting to hook a ball back from the byline is so often a genuinely legal recovery rather than a lucky escape.
Try it
Next match you watch, call the restart out loud before the referee signals: touchline or goal line, then attacker or defender. You will be right almost every time within a few minutes.
Quick check
A defender slices a clearance over their own goal line. What is the restart?
Key takeaways