Handball Rule in Football Explained: When Is It a Foul?

Handball is one of the most argued-about decisions in football. The rule is in Law 12 of the IFAB Laws of the Game, and its wording has changed several times since 2019. Here is how it works today.

Where the arm starts

For handball, the arm starts at the bottom of the armpit. A ball that hits the shoulder or the top of the arm above that line is not handball.

When it is an offence

A player commits a handball offence if they:

• deliberately touch the ball with the hand or arm, including moving the hand or arm towards the ball;
• touch the ball with a hand or arm that has made the body unnaturally bigger;
• score in the opponents' goal directly from the hand or arm, even accidentally, or immediately after the ball touched their hand or arm, even accidentally.

What “unnaturally bigger” means

A player makes the body unnaturally bigger when the position of the arm is not a result of, or justifiable by, the movement of the body for that situation. An arm stretched out to block a cross is unnaturally bigger. An arm that is moving naturally while running, or that is used to break a fall, usually is not.

This is a judgement call, which is why two similar incidents can be given differently.

Accidental handball by an attacker

Since 2021, an accidental handball by a teammate in the build-up to a goal is not an offence. Only the player who scores, directly or immediately after the touch, is penalised for accidental contact. If the ball touches an attacker's arm by accident and then the attack continues with a pass, the goal can stand.

When it is not handball

• The ball usually is not handball when it hits the arm straight off the player's own head, body or foot, unless the arm made the body unnaturally bigger.
• The ball hits an arm that is close to the body and not making it bigger.
• A player falls and the arm is between the body and the ground to support it.

Goalkeepers

Goalkeepers may handle the ball inside their own penalty area. Outside it, they follow the same handball rule as every other player.

Cards for handball

A handball that stops a promising attack, or is an attempt to score, earns a yellow card. Denying an obvious goal by deliberate handball earns a red card.

Handball is one of the four areas VAR checks: see VAR explained, and for what happens next, penalty kick rules.