First and foremost, NO HANDS! Field players may strike the ball with any part of their body (i.e. feet, thighs, head) except their hands or arms. Goalkeepers alone are allowed to touch the ball with their hands.

Eleven people are allowed on the field for each team: 10 field players and one goalkeeper. Read about the different positions...

Soccer games last 90 minutes and are divided into two halves. During the first half, each team defends the same one goal while attempting to score on the opposing team's goal. Before the second half, the teams switch sides. At the end of the game, which is played without stopping the clock, the team that has scored the most goals wins. If at the end of regulation time the game is tied, two sudden-death halves of 15 minutes each will be played. In the preliminary rounds of the World Cup, after this time passes, the game is called a tie, but in later rounds, there can be no ties. The winner is determined by a penalty kick shoot-out.

Soccer is unique in that it is the only sport played with a running clock, which means that there are no time-outs for strategizing or for setting up a coach's play. There are some stoppages during the course of the game--when the ball goes out of bounds, when a penalty is committed--that do allow teams to re-group themselves, if only momentarily.

When the ball goes off of the field through the sidelines, the team that didn't kick it out gets a throw-in. When the ball goes off of the field through the endlines, the team that didn't kick it out gets either a goal kick or a corner kick, depending on where the out of bounds occurred. If Team A is attacking Team B's goal and Team A mistakenly knocks the ball over B's endline, Team B gets to kick the ball into play from their own six yard box; Team A must remain outside of the penalty box. If Team A is attacking Team B's goal and Team B mistakenly knocks the ball over their own endline, Team A gets a corner kick. Because of the proximity to the goal and the time allowed to set up a play, the corner kick is one of the most dangerous offensive plays in soccer.

In soccer, kicks are also awarded due to penalties. Indirect kicks are free kicks where a player must pass to another player and are awarded for obstruction, dangerous plays that don't involve contact, or for charging the goalkeeper. Direct kicks are free kicks, period. They are awarded when there is a penalty of kicking, tripping, jumping in, charging from behind, striking, holding or pushing.

It is important to note that any direct penalty against a defender in her own penalty box results in the other team having a penalty kick, which is a "free shot" on goal--there are no defenders allowed in the box except for the goalkeeper--from the 12-yard line.