Football throw-in rules: legal throws, restarts and time limits

Choose a worked example to see the facts, the decision, the restart and the detail that would change the answer. Start with a familiar point of confusion: toes can extend into the pitch while part of each foot still touches the line. That is different from placing a whole foot inside the field, clear of the line.

The examples deliberately state whether the ball entered, who touched it next, where an offence happened and whether the referee stopped play. Those details prevent a neat-looking answer from being the wrong one. The final example leaves the answer open because the relevant evidence is missing.

The diagrams explain ground contact and ball entry. They cannot establish the throwing action, an opponent’s interference or the referee’s signals from a real match. Every example also has a complete text explanation.

A throw-in normally follows the whole ball crossing a touchline, on the ground or in the air. The team whose player did not touch it last receives the throw, taken from the point where it left the field. The touchline is the long side boundary; crossing a goal line involves different restart rules.

Judge the thrower’s feet at the moment of delivery. Part of each foot must be touching the line or the ground outside it. Both feet may be wholly outside. A heel can stay on the line while the rest of that foot extends into the pitch. The rule does not require both feet to be entirely behind the paint, but neither foot may be completely off the ground at delivery.

The thrower must face the field and actually throw the ball with both hands, starting behind the head and bringing it over the head. Simply dropping it from above the head, or beginning the movement in front of the head, does not satisfy that requirement. A still image of the final arm position cannot show where the movement began.

Opponents must stay at least two metres from the point on the touchline where the throw is to be taken. Measure from that point, rather than from the thrower’s body if the player has stepped back.

The ball comes into play when it enters the field. If it touches the ground outside before entering, the same team retakes the throw from the same position. It need not be the same player. That is why a short throw that lands outside is not automatically handed to the opponents.

Now change the facts: the throw is incorrectly delivered, the ball enters the field and the referee stops play without applying advantage. The opponents take the throw. In the foot-position example, one foot is wholly inside and clear of the line. The error is in the delivery, not simply in how far the ball travelled.

The order matters. A ball that enters correctly and then goes straight back over the touchline has already been in play; the later exit is a new event, judged by who touched it last. A bounce on the pitch does not invalidate an otherwise correct throw. Before calling for a retake, establish which side of the boundary the ball first reached.

The Premier League adopted the five-second countdown for clearly delayed throw-ins in 2026/27. It is a referee-controlled response to time-wasting. Counting five seconds from the ball going out, or from a player picking it up, does not by itself establish an offence.

When the referee decides the team is deliberately delaying, the official starts the count with a whistle, a clear hand or arm signal to take the restart, and a visible countdown on a raised hand. A preliminary hurry-up warning is possible but is not required. The referee also need not wait for the player to have the ball: slowly retrieving it or deliberately taking an incorrect position can trigger the count.

If the ball is still not in play at the end, the opponents receive a throw-in from the same position. There is an important exception: the protocol says a player already in the process of throwing as the count ends should not be penalised for that timeout. Compare the two countdown examples; whether the throwing action has begun is an explicit fact in each.

Losing the throw for exceeding the count does not itself bring a yellow card. Excessively delaying the opponents’ resulting restart is a separate cautionable matter. This does not excuse another offence, and an otherwise incorrect throwing technique is still judged separately.

It can enter the goal, but it cannot score directly. From an otherwise correct throw, a ball that enters the opponents’ goal without another player touching it produces a goal kick. If it goes directly into the thrower’s own goal, the opponents receive a corner. An untouched throw into your own net is therefore not automatically an own goal.

The word directly matters. A touch by a goalkeeper or another player changes the situation: the direct-from-a-throw restriction no longer settles the decision. You must then check the touch and any other offence. A bounce off the ground is not a player’s touch.

For the untouched examples, the goal kick can be taken anywhere in the defending team’s goal area. The corner is taken from the corner area nearest to where the ball crossed the goal line. The component states that the ball has not gone out earlier and that no other offence occurred.

After the ball comes into play, the thrower must wait for another player to touch it before playing it again. Kicking the ball after your own throw, before anyone else touches it, normally gives the opponents an indirect free kick. In the example, the referee stops play and the second touch is in midfield, so the kick is taken there.

A handball offence is different. If the outfield thrower deliberately handles the ball before another player touches it, the restart is a direct free kick outside the thrower’s own penalty area or a penalty inside it. Not every contact with a hand or arm is handball; the worked cases expressly describe a deliberate movement of the hand to stop the ball.

If the thrower is the goalkeeper and that second handling occurs inside their own penalty area, the restart is an indirect free kick instead of a penalty. The goalkeeper’s handling outside that area has no such exemption. These are the thrower’s own second-touch situations; a goalkeeper receiving a team-mate’s throw is a separate question below.

An indirect free kick needs another player’s touch before it can score a goal. Free kicks are generally taken where the offence occurred, but an attacking indirect free kick for an offence inside the opponents’ goal area moves to the nearest point on the goal-area line parallel to the goal line. The examples avoid that special location rather than silently choosing the wrong spot.

An opponent who unfairly distracts or impedes the thrower, including moving inside the required two metres, is cautioned for unsporting behaviour. If the throw has been taken and the referee stops play for that interference, the throwing team receives an indirect free kick. The example places the offending opponent inside the field in midfield and excludes physical contact.

If the referee intervenes before the throw is taken, the original throw remains the restart. Do not award a free kick simply because misconduct occurred while the ball was out of play. A separate physical foul or a different sequence of events needs its own assessment.

Advantage can also change what you see. IFAB’s worked answers allow play to continue after an incorrectly taken throw has entered the field when doing so benefits the opponents more than awarding them the throw. Interference by an opponent may likewise be followed by advantage for the throwing team. The examples that award a restart explicitly say the referee has stopped play; they do not assume every offence must produce an immediate whistle.

There is no offside offence when a player receives the ball directly from a throw-in. That does not exempt the whole following attack: a later play or touch by an attacking team-mate creates a new offside question. Use the offside guide for the wider rules rather than judging only where the receiver stood at the original throw.

A goalkeeper normally cannot handle the ball inside their own penalty area after receiving it directly from a team-mate’s throw-in; the restart is an indirect free kick. Controlling it with the feet first does not by itself remove that restriction. Law 12 has a specific exception where the goalkeeper has clearly kicked or attempted to kick the ball to release it into play.

Those details are separate from the rule against the thrower playing their own throw twice. The back-pass guide explains the goalkeeper’s handling restrictions more fully.

Start with delivery: could you see both feet at the relevant moment, the player facing the field and the ball moving from behind and over the head? Then establish whether the ball entered before touching the ground. A cropped replay may show the arms clearly while hiding the one foot that changes the decision.

Next, follow the sequence of player touches and identify where any later offence happened. For a delay, look for the referee’s actual countdown and whether the throw was already under way at its end. For interference, establish when the referee intervened and whether play was allowed to continue.

If a needed fact is missing, leave the restart undecided. A match score, a still frame after release or a supporter’s five-second count cannot supply all those observations. The unknown example is a useful outcome when the available evidence does not support a ruling.

Use Results to open the exact completed fixture and check its recorded score, available lineup and event records. The club panel also links to the selected club’s recorded matches and to a specific fixture when one is available. Read the lineup’s status before treating the names as confirmed selections.

These routes help you identify the game and the players involved. Match XI does not supply video review or a complete throw-in log, so its match records cannot settle an unseen foot position, touch or countdown signal. Keep the rule explanation alongside the evidence actually available for that incident.

For a route back to the club, use the explicit Save team action and return through My teams. Selecting a club in this guide does not save it automatically.