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Football (Soccer) vocabulary · Rules, Fouls & Match Time

Back-pass rule

Meaning in football (soccer), with examples

nounCommon term

In football (soccer), back-pass rule means: The rule restricting a goalkeeper's handling of a ball deliberately kicked to them by a teammate.

In Turkish: kaleciye geri pas kuralı

How it is used

The name is informal: a pass need not travel backward for the restriction to matter.

Example sentences

  1. The back-pass rule was discussed after the keeper picked up her teammate's kick.

    The issue is the deliberate kick to the keeper, not its direction.

  2. Our goalkeeper practised receiving with his feet because of the back-pass rule.

    The handling restriction affects how a keeper receives teammates' passes.

Common collocations

  • apply the back-pass rule
  • back-pass rule decision
  • under the back-pass rule
  • goalkeeperThe player who defends the goal and is the only one allowed to handle the ball, but only inside their own penalty area.
  • free kickA kick awarded after a foul or another offence by the opponents, taken from where the offence happened while opponents stand at least 9.15 metres (10 yards) away.

More terms: Rules, Fouls & Match Time

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