Revised rules regarding fouls and misconduct in high school soccer

Rule 12 of the NFHS Soccer Rulebook regarding Fouls and Misconduct has been revised and restructured to include a new section on “Stopping Prospective Offenses.”

The revised foul and misconduct rules, along with one change to Rule 4 regarding player equipment, were recommended by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Soccer Rules Committee, held February 5-7 in Indianapolis. It was done. All changes were then approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.

Rule 12-7 defines what a promising attack is, how to determine a promising attack, and the penalties a player may receive. The new wording states that a promising attack is one that moves quickly with the prospect or possibility of creating a clear goal-scoring opportunity for the attacking team. A promising attack can occur anywhere on the field.

Considerations when determining whether an offense is viable include, but are not limited to: the distance between the offense and the goal, the general direction of play, and whether the attacking team The possibility of holding or controlling the ball when moving forward. speed, free space in front of the player with the ball or the presence of other attackers who can receive the ball, whether the player has the option to fight the defender or pass to a teammate, and whether the attacker whether they are receiving assistance from

In a move to accomplish one of the Committee's fundamental missions of creating an atmosphere of sportsmanship, much of Rule 12 has been reorganized and rephrased for clarity and consistency.

“The biggest changes we encountered this year addressed some sportsmanship issues, clarified some tools for officials, and focused on positive interactions with coaches, officials, and student-athletes. “Rule 12 has been restructured to make this happen,” said Gibby Reynolds, chair of the NFHS Soccer Rules Committee and member of the Oregon School Activities Association's administrative staff.

Other revisions to the Foul and Misconduct Rules include a section on sending offs (previously known as disqualifications), which gives associations more flexibility in determining post-match sanctions for misconduct. provides a list of violations ordered by severity.

Several changes have been made to Section 8 of Rule 12 – Denial of Obvious Scoring Opportunity (DOGSO). A new article has been added to clarify that all required conditions must be met in order to apply for DOGSO. Rule 12-8-4 states: “A player cannot be sent off for his DOGSO if a Law 1 element is missing. However, this may indicate that the attack has promise and an additional element must be taken into account.”

Finally, Rule 4-1-4d is amended to provide that when tape or similar material is applied to a sock above the ankle, it must be of a similar color to the area of ​​the sock to which it is applied. I did. Umpires no longer need to supervise socks below the ankle.

A complete list of soccer rule changes is available on the NFHS website (www.nfhs.org). Click Activities & Sports at the top of the homepage and select Soccer.

According to the 2022-23 NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey, soccer is the fifth most popular high school sport for boys, with 450,455 participants from 12,484 schools nationwide. Soccer is her third most popular sport for girls, with 12,100 schools and 377,838 participants.

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