Brief Introduction of Soccer

According to the official soccer rules, a team can bring in 10 outfield players and one goalkeeper on the pitch and can have several substitutes on the bench. The numbers of benched subs as well as the actual number of substitutions that are allowed in a single match vary with the type of the game played. For example, in official matches only 3 substitutions are allowed, with 5, 7 or 9 players on the bench.

In friendlies however, a coach can fit in as many players as he wants on the bench and usually he can also make as many substitutions as he needs. In the past, the official soccer rules regarding substitutions were a lot stricter than this.

2 teams consisting of 11 players a-side will face off in a soccer game. Each team will consist, generally, of 10 players and one goalkeeper. These 10 players can be categorized as defenders, midfielders and strikers.

Standard adult games are limited by the official soccer rules to two halves of 45 minutes each, separated by a 15 minutes break. This is not the actual time of play, since this 90 minute clock ticks even when the ball is out of play, during substitutions and so forth. In order to try to balance this timing a bit, the end of each half also brings a few minutes of “injury time” on the table.

In some cases, when the match must have a winner (a knockout match for example), two extra mini-periods of 15 minutes each, with no break between them are added. If the match is tied at the end of extra time as well, the players go on for a penalty-shootout that will eventually decide the winner.

Reporter: Junbin

Junbin, the quietly serious Law student, has been representing our Hall in badminton for the past 2 years and plans to do so again this IHG. In addition, he’d like to apply his badminton skills to playing Squash this year as a change from previous years. As for his taste in sporty individuals – Pele ranks tops in his list of sports-icons-to-meet while sports ladies who are elegant and graceful are a must in his books.

Junbin was Head Reporter, but due to unforeseen circumstances he will not be joining us next year. We are sorry to see him leave us but we wish him the best of Iuck in his future endeavours!