Day 1: From Scratch

There’s never a bad time to get into soccer, and with the 2026 World Cup coming to North America this summer, it might actually be one of the best times to start paying attention. Soccer (“football” to the rest of the world, but we aren’t really going to worry about that), is the most popular sport on the planet because it’s relatively simple and only as complicated as you want to make it. 

Soccer: the game that if it was a person, they’d be chatting at a gathering with friends, but then see you from a distance causing a big smile to form, and then open their arms wide for a hug. 

In the simplest possible terms (and we’ll dig more into the rules and strategy later) soccer is a 90 minute game, divided into two 45 minute halves, where a team of 11 players try to score a goal (getting the soccer ball across the line of their opponent’s goal) and keep the other team from scoring. That’s it. 

Of those 11 players, 10 play various positions (offensive, middle, and defensive) in the field, and the 11th is a goalkeeper, who is the only player allowed to use their hands inside the field. Field players primarily use their feet to play the ball, but also use their legs, chest, and head, just not their hands or arms. 

When your team has the ball, they’re trying to get the ball closer to their opponents’ goal (either slow and methodical or quickly) in order to take a shot. In general, the closer you are to the goal, the better chance your shot has of going in. 

When your team doesn’t have the ball, they’re trying either to get it back right away, or to get themselves into position to keep the other team away from their goal as much as possible. 

The result of the game (under most circumstances) can be either a win, a loss, or a tie, including a tie where no one scores. There are some occasions, typically tournament games, where one team has to be the winner, so those games will typically finish with a shootout. This process involves 5 shooters from each team taking turns trying to score against only the other team’s goalkeeper until one team has definitively scored more than the other. However, under most situations for a regular game, ties (sometimes referred to as a “draw”) are a perfectly acceptable outcome, making shootouts rare outside of tournaments.

It’s official – I hereby dub you an informed, educated individual who’s ready to take in a soccer game. Is there more to it? Absolutely; remember I said it’s only as complicated as you want to make it? In the next message, we’ll take the next step down Soccer Lane and get a bit more into the rules and how they factor into what games look like. But don’t let that stop you from watching – turn on a game and get started!

Day 2: Rules Overview

After giving you the thirty thousand foot view in our last message, this one will fly down to about ten thousand feet. You know how many players are out there for 90 minutes, so let’s get more into the events you’ll see in a soccer game (commonly referred to as a “match”). You’re ready, I’m ready – here we go!

Let’s start with the field itself. While the playing area of high school to professional soccer fields actually can vary a little bit, they are typically slightly bigger than an American football field. The goals sit directly on the back or end lines, while the sidelines are called the touch lines.

You’ll see a circle at midfield with a line running from one sideline to the other. The center circle is only used for starting play at the beginning of each half, or after a goal is scored. It’s also used to gauge where players are on the field simply by being in the middle. The line just divides the field into two halves.

Down at each end of the field, there are boxes painted at each end by the goals. Visually, there is a big box with a smaller box inside of it. There’s also a little dot in the middle of the big box – that’s the Penalty Spot. We’ll come back to all of those in a minute. 

So, basic gameplay starts with a kickoff, where one team passes the ball to themselves at the beginning of each half or after the opposing team scores a goal, starting at that center point in the circle at midfield. 

During the course of play, if a team kicks the ball and it goes out of the field on either side (those are the touchlines, remember?) the other team will put it back into play with a “throw-in” which is exactly what it sounds like. The only time field players will use their hands is a throw-in, which consists of a two-hand throw where the player’s feet must be behind the touch line, and the ball must be all the way behind the throwing player’s head before being thrown in the direction of a teammate. 

Now, if the ball goes out of bounds on the end lines, we have a couple of options as to how play proceeds. If you and I are on opposite teams, and I kick the ball out of bounds behind your goal, your team gets a “goal kick”. This is where those boxes we mentioned earlier come into play; someone from your team will kick the ball back into play from the smaller box (the “six-yard box”) while my team has to stay outside of the larger box (the “eighteen-yard box”) until the ball is kicked. 

However, if we are at the end of the field with your goal, and your team is last to touch the ball before it goes out of bounds at your own goal line, then my team gets a “corner kick”. We haven’t mentioned the corners of the field yet, but at each one there’s a small flag on a stick as a visual reminder of the boundary, plus a small painted arc on the ground that spans the corner. On corner kicks, my team will kick the ball from that arc towards your goal, where lots of bodies from both teams will be packed around the goal trying either to score or clear the ball away from danger. 

Lastly, we need to come back to how the time of the game is kept. You read about the 90 total minutes and 45 minute halves earlier, but you’ll notice that the clock starts at 0:00 and then counts up from there. Likewise, the second half starts at 45:00 and goes up to the full 90 minutes, but along the way it doesn’t stop when the ball goes out of bounds, when goals are scored, for injuries, or anything else. The referees will keep track of those small breaks in play and then add time at the end of each half, uncreatively called “stoppage time”. This amount of time can range from zero minutes if the game really flowed, to 15 minutes if there was a major injury and a player needed medical attention, but is commonly in the 3-5 minute per half range. On a TV broadcast, that amount of time to be added is announced when the clock reaches 45:00 and 90:00, but ultimately it’s the referee’s discretion. 

YOU are doing great! If you’re brand new to soccer, you’ve already taken huge steps to understanding the game.

Day 3: Game Events

Through the course of the game, there will be fouls or infractions. These could range from a trip, a push, or a handball (generally, where the ball comes into contact with the hand or extended arm during game play – I say “generally” because there’s many interpretations of the hand ball law and we aren’t going to dissect all of them at the moment). 

These stops in play might be where you’ll hear the phrase “set piece” if you’re watching a match on TV, and that refers to the ball being kicked from a specific point where the foul occurred while play is stopped. Think of it as being similar to an American football play, where the players might line up in a specific way and have a pre-planned “play” they’re trying to execute. Although, sometimes those soccer set piece kicks are taken quickly to try and catch the other team before they can set their defense – similar to the no huddle offense if we go back to our American football comparisons. A corner kick is also considered a set piece, and you’ll see teams try to sometimes run corner kick plays. 

Here’s where we circle back to that penalty spot. If a foul or handball occurs for the attacking team inside of their opponent’s big box, the referee will award a penalty kick, which is a one-on-one situation with a player shooting the ball from the penalty spot at just the goalkeeper in goal. All other players must remain outside of the penalty box until the ball is kicked (including the arc at the top of the big box, which gives the player shooting the ball room to take the shot). If the shot goes in, play restarts just like after a regular goal with a kickoff at center field for the other team. However, if the goalkeeper saves the shot, play continues with wherever the ball bounces; or, if the shot misses the goal altogether, play restarts with a goal kick. 

You will also hear about referees issuing “cards” to players for hard fouls or other infractions like delaying the game or saying naughty words to the referee (they don’t like that). A referee has two cards (yes, these are literally colored rectangles the referee has in his pocket and will hold up over his head to show everyone) at his disposal: a yellow card, essentially a warning, and a red card, which is an automatic dismissal from the game. If the same player is issued two yellow cards during the same game, both together equal a red card, and that player is removed from the match. Once a player is given a red card, they can no longer return to the game and can’t be replaced with a substitute player, leaving that team to play one player short for the rest of the match. 

On the subject of substitutes, soccer is unique in how players come in and out of the game. There will be a starting 11 players, and they will stay on the field unless they are substituted for another player. Only 5 total players from the bench can be brought onto the field on 3 separate occasions (called “windows”) and once those starters leave the field, they cannot come back on. In the last few years, an exception has been made for head injuries, and if a player with a suspected head injury has to be substituted off, an extra player in an extra window may enter the game. 

Another item the center referee (there’s also two assistant referees, one on each sideline) has in their pocket is a little notebook. They record the main events of the game, not so much the throw-ins and goal kicks, but the goals and fouls where a player is shown a card. On a TV broadcast, you’ll hear about a player being shown a card and “going into the book” which is the ref noting that infraction for the record. 

Those assistant referees I just mentioned are the ones on the sidelines with flags (yay flags!). They will use those flags to indicate which direction a throw-in will be taken, help call a goal kick or a corner kick, raise them to note that a player was offside during an attack, or to call a foul if it takes place right in front of them. 

The last thing to mention is the offsides rule. This one can take a bit to really grasp, but in short, think of it as not allowing an attacking team to just keep someone up by the other team’s goal, just waiting for a long pass to score (similar to “cherry-picking” from your gym class days back in school). The rule is that an attacker can’t be past the last defender on the opposing team until after a pass is kicked to them by their teammate (starting at midfield; an attacker can’t be offside in their own half). There are many nuances to offsides; it’s definitely a concept with which you’ll gain more clarity over time. 

Now, if you’re watching a youth game, you’ll notice that it doesn’t look quite like the soccer you’ll see on TV. Smaller kids – think of preschoolers through older elementary athletes – will play with rules variations and smaller fields that help them to learn soccer fundamentals. Once they reach middle school age and older, the game is essentially the same as the professionals. 

You – yes, you! – now know what is really happening out there during a soccer match. That was a lot of information so: 1. Thanks for getting this far; you’re a champ! and 2. It’s ok if you don’t have it all memorized; the more you watch, the more the game will make sense.

Day 4: Field and Positions

Let’s recap the soccer elements you’ve learned so far: 

1. It’s a 90 minute game divided into two 45-minute halves, with time counting up
2. 22 total players at a time; 10 field players and one goalkeeper per team
3. There’s specific areas on the field: center circle, goal boxes, corner arcs, and more
4. How the ball comes back into the field depends on how it went out
5. A Set Piece is a way play restarts from a foul or corner kick
6. Penalty kicks are awarded for infractions inside the goal box
7. Referees can show a player yellow or red card if they’ve misbehaved
8. The offsides rule keeps attacking players from going too far down the field without the ball

If you began Soccer from Scratch without any prior soccer knowledge, you’ve come a long way in a short time! In reality, you’ve got enough knowledge to feel fairly comfortable with what’s happening in a soccer game at any level.  An average spectator would be just fine stopping there, but I know you; you want to learn more. With that, let’s get a little bit more in-depth on how play takes place on the field, where the players are arranged on the field, and what type of strategies they utilize during the match. 

But, before getting into the nitty-gritty of how the players are on the field, I want to just touch on a common question: “how do I watch this game?” As a youth coach, one of the most common coaching phrases that comes out of my mouth is telling athletes to “look up”, meaning scan the rest of the field to see where everyone is, and then “make a plan” and decide where to go with the ball. 

Think of spectating soccer in the same way. Whether watching on TV or in person, our eyes are naturally drawn to the ball. That’s normal; it’s arguably the most important thing to look at. But while you’re watching, get in the habit of looking at the ball for a second or two, and then looking up at the rest of the field for a second or two. This will help you take in not only what’s going on where the ball is, but how play can develop in the next few moments. 

It helps to picture soccer as a game of lines. The field itself, in addition to having lines on it, is often referred to in sections divided by imaginary lines. From sideline to sideline, pretend that there’s a line that runs across the field between the goal boxes and the center circle. This would divide the pitch into 3 sections end to end: an attacking third, middle third, and defensive third. During a TV broadcast, you’ll hear announcers talk about teams playing in their attacking third, meaning they’re in the third of the field that’s closest to their opponent’s goal. 

We can also think of the field being divided end to end, essentially from one sideline to the near end of the center circle, the area about the width of the center circle, and then from the far side of the center circle to the far sideline. Often you’ll see teams play near a sideline, allowing most of the players to naturally consolidate themselves on that side of the field, only for then the ball to be passed, or “switched”, to the far side of the field where they now have more space to operate. 

I’ve mentioned player position names already a bit; you may have heard the terms “forward”, “midfielder”, and “defender”. You can probably interpret their roles just by their names; defenders play near to and defend their own goal. Midfielders are in the middle of the field, directing and distributing the ball from one end to the other. Forwards are primarily offensive in nature; they drive the ball forward toward the goal they’re trying to score at. 

But wait – there’s more! We then have subdivisions of those positions. Defenders may be called “backs” with those in the middle of the field being “centerbacks”. Midfielders may have a few variations; often there will be a center attacking midfielder (CAM) and center defensive midfielder (CDM) and you can likely infer what their roles are. Midfielders on the sides are often referred to as “wingers” as if they were on the tips of extended wings, and are usually responsible for covering large lengths of the sideline. Those wingers can all be “wingbacks” if their responsibilities are primarily defensive in nature. Then offensively, you’ll hear “forwards” and “striker” – forwards are all offensive, but a striker almost exclusively offensive; think of that player as the tip of the offensive spear. 

Last thing on positions: you’ll hear them referred to by number, as in “he’s a true number nine”. It’s essentially a shorthand method for saying where the players are instead of using their positions by name. Unless you’re really going to become a soccer savant, you don’t need to get the flashcards out and memorize these. But if this piques your interest, I like this explainer from Red Bull Soccer you can check out: https://www.redbull.com/us-en/soccer-numbers-positions-guide 

We’ll break there – now that you know who the players are, we’ll come back next time and get into how they use those positions to work towards victory.

Day 5: Formations and Strategy

It’s worth taking a moment to say how much you’re crushing this whole soccer thing. As a youth coach, I always want to mix coaching moments which can sometimes be corrective in nature with positive feedback for those good moments. We all like to hear “great job!” and that’s my positive feedback to YOU – let’s keep it going!

Now for arrangement of players, or “formations” as you’ll hear. At the beginning of almost every TV broadcast, the announcers will talk about how the players will line up on the field, and use a set of numbers to describe that arrangement. This number sequence describes the number of defenders, midfielders, and attackers, in that order (not counting the goalkeeper) lined up on the field from their own goal moving forward. Some typical arrangements are 4-4-2 (four defenders, four midfielders, two attackers), 3-4-3 (three defenders, four midfielders, three attackers), or 4-2-3-1 (four defenders, two midfielders, three forwards, and one striker). 

These arrangements are flexible, but you’ll see them as you look across the field. Four defenders across the back will often be visible when a team is defending in their own half, but when a team is attacking, those defenders on the side (called either fullbacks or wing backs) might work further up the sidelines, leaving the two defenders in the middle of the field (centerbacks) to handle defensive duties. 

A lone striker (the attacker in the middle of the field who stays nearest to the opposing goal) typically won’t stray too far from that area in the middle of the field as wide as the center circle. Their main job is to be the player always in the middle of the field ready to take a shot on goal. 

In a middle four (four players lined up as midfielders) it’s common for the midfields on each sideline (or “wingers”)  to just cover that sideline nearly in its entirety. 

As gameplay progresses, you can see the lines and how play either moves through or across them. They’ll use those lines to progress the ball from back of the field forward in a couple of main ways. 

First we’ll discuss “playing out of the back”. It is what it sounds like; when a team starts with the ball at their own goal, either from a goal kick or goalkeeper possession, they’ll play a short pass to a nearby teammate, who then plays to a nearby teammate, taking an incremental approach to moving the ball up the field. Teams who like to have the ball in possession, meaning they would rather have the ball than not, are comfortable with this method. 

In terms of offensive strategy, the other one is one that employs a constant drive to move the ball forward. On a goal kick, goalkeepers will kick the ball all the way to midfield, and then advance the ball more from there. Soccer people will call this taking “Route One”, like a highway straight towards the other team’s goal. 

“So Grant, why the heck don’t teams just always send the ball straight up the field? Why are they messing around passing it back and forth to themselves? Just score already!” Well sure, it sounds like a simple strategy. But think if you were at the grocery store, and there were 11 employees of that store whose job it was to keep you away from the checkout. You’d probably have to think of some strategy to get around them, right? Maybe ask a few friends to help move the cart around and get those employees to spread themselves out, and then wait for a gap to push the cart through. Same concept here; teams will possess the ball, wait for openings in the other team’s defense, and then move forward through those weaknesses. 

Sometimes possession of the ball can be a strategy in energy conservation. In theory, it takes more energy to chase the ball than to keep it, so teams may just try to hold onto the ball by passing it around and allow their players to catch their breath if the play has been a bit frenetic. 

The other strategy to mention is one that’s defensive in nature; some teams are completely comfortable allowing the other team to keep the ball. If my team has a strong defense, we might keep our players mostly in the middle of the field, clogging up the path to goal and just let your team pass the ball out around the edges. But then if your team with possession makes a mistake, perhaps a bad pass, my defense very quickly switches to offense and will “counter-attack” and try to make a fast run with a few offensive players in an attempt to score. Counter attacks are also common on set pieces, like corner kicks, where the ball may bounce out away from goal and attackers rush it away from the masses down the field. 

Again, “great job out there!” to you, my athletic reader! You’ve been sprinting through words, passing through paragraphs, and working hard – I see you. Get yourself a snack and something refreshing to drink; you’ve earned it. 

We are going to move into the structure of soccer in the United States – the structure in which athletes start as youngsters and advance up in amateur and then to the professional ranks.

Day 6: Soccer in the United States

Now that we’ve got you covered on soccer from touchline to touchline, centerback to striker, and goal to goal, it’s time to discuss what the game in the United States looks like (we’ll get to the rest of the world after that). 

Let’s start at the top of the men’s game and work our way down. The big dog in the States is the MLS, or Major League Soccer. The 1996 in the Intro to Soccer logo represents the year MLS was founded, which followed the momentum of the 1992 World Cup hosted by the United States. Starting then with ten teams, it now features 30 teams across the USA and into Canada. Teams compete in a regular season (where the team with the best record across the whole league is awarded the “Supporters Shield”) followed by a postseason tournament where the winner receives the MLS Cup. An inter-league tournament called Leagues Cup has also taken place in recent seasons which includes teams from the main soccer league in Mexico, Liga MX. Most teams have a feeder team (think of the main team as a high school varsity squad, and the feeder team as the junior varsity) which competes in their own league called MLS Next. Many clubs also have an academy to assist with youth athlete development, some of whom eventually work their way up to the main team. 

Now, the next group of leagues may claim to rival the soccer dominance of MLS, and that’s USL, or the United Soccer League. The USL has undergone multiple evolutions since beginning outdoor soccer play in 1989, with more scheduled in 2028. As of 2026, there are three tiers to the USL: a development tier called USL League Two, a middle tier called USL League One which competes regionally, and a higher tier called USL Championship which competes nationwide. However, in 2028, an even higher tier, USL Premier, will be added, and the pyramid will feature promotion and relegation between the three higher levels (we’ll cover promotion and relegation more in the next session covering world soccer), not including League Two. At this time, there are no plans for regular crossover play between USL and MLS, although all American men’s teams compete in a nationwide tournament called the US Open Cup, which on occasion has been won by a USL team. 

The season for both MLS and USL currently runs from early spring to late fall, but that will be changing in 2027 to a fall to spring schedule in order to align with soccer season around the rest of the world. 

Also worth mentioning is the vibrant college soccer environment that is somewhat unique to the United States. While not technically professional (but Name, Image, and Likeness aka “NIL” available to all college athletes has changed that environment in recent years), college soccer serves as an important option for athletes looking to continue their development. Similar to most college sports, schools across five divisions compete regionally within conferences, and culminates with a nationwide tournament, where the winner will be awarded the College Cup as National Champions. However, only a small percentage of these college athletes continue on at the professional level. 

Now, on to the women’s game! The undisputed highest level of soccer for women is the NWSL, or National Women’s Soccer League. Currently made up of 16 teams, the NWSL features some of the world’s best women’s players playing in a spring to fall season – think of the NWSL as the MLS’ female equivalent. Similarly, USL has the USL Super League Women, currently featuring 9 teams. Those two form the top tier of women’s soccer in the States, with the Women’s Premier Soccer League and the United Women’s Soccer league under them as amateur and semi-professional leagues, respectively. Women’s college soccer features the same highly competitive environment as men’s college soccer. 

What’s your takeaway from all this? There’s great soccer everywhere – and it’s probably closer to you than you think! It’s never been easier to see a match in person, whether it’s MLS, USL, NWSL, or college, and they make great family events, as tickets to most matches won’t break the bank. And many of the MLS, USL, NWSL, and even college teams have their own soccer-specific stadiums, which provide an authentic and exciting soccer experience for fans of all ages. 

We’re almost at the end of our soccer journey; you’ve been training hard, keeping your head up and making great passes, and finishing those possessions with awesome goals (aka “bangers”, “goalzos”, and going “top bins”). We’ll close out our championship journey with a look at how soccer – football in the rest of the world – truly is a global sport that is intertwined across countries and continents.

Day 7: Global Soccer

If this soccer learning experience was a match, we’d be close to the full time whistle. You’ve hustled and played smart for 90 minutes and we’re in second half stoppage time. All that training has paid off, and you’ve gone the distance. 

To wrap this Soccer from Scratch journey, we’ll end with the game as it exists worldwide. Most countries have a domestic soccer league with a top level league and then lower leagues beneath them. The most famous example we Americans might be familiar with is the English soccer pyramid and its top tier, the Premier League. If you’ve ever heard of Manchester United, Arsenal, Newcastle United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Nottingham Forest, and more, they’re among the best in the world. In reality, those teams and more – 20 in total – sit at the top of a seven (yes – 7!) tier system ranging from amateur to amazing. 

Similar systems exist for most countries around the world; some of the more common ones are the Bundesliga in Germany, Ligue 1 in France, Serie A in Italy, Liga MX in Mexico, the Eredivise in the Netherlands, and so on, and so on. 

Players often are transferred (or “sold” in soccer terms) to clubs from one league to another across the world. Many see playing in Europe, and some specifically in the English Premier League, as the ultimate highest level of competition an athlete can play at. However, the domestic league in a player’s own country often holds sway for athletes who want to showcase their talents at home. In the last message, I mentioned that US soccer will be transitioning away from playing a season that runs from early spring to late fall to a season that goes from fall into spring; this is the schedule that is used in Europe and the rest of the world, making transfers from American leagues to leagues around the world. 

Now while most of those other domestic leagues may not have as many levels as the English system, what most will feature is promotion and relegation. In this system (commonly referred to as “pro-rel”), the teams who finish in the bottom three of their league are relegated, aka moved down to the league below it, while the top three teams from that lower league are promoted to the league above. This has huge ramifications for clubs, often with millions in TV deals that come and go as teams move either up or down in the pyramid. The most famous example of promotion in recent years comes from Wrexam, a Welsh club in the English pyramid made famous by its celebrity owners and a TV documentary series, who was just promoted three years in a row and just one promotion away from the Premier League. 

In addition to each country’s domestic league and the winner of each, there’s also continental competitions. Each league typically sends a set number of clubs to compete in a tournament against the best of what the other leagues have to offer. In North America, that tournament is the CONCACAF Champions Cup (CONCACAF = the Confederation Of North, Central America, and Caribbean Association Football). In Europe, the equivalent is simply the Champions League. There’s also other club tournaments, the largest of which is the Club World Cup, held for the first time in 2025. 

Speaking of the World Cup, national teams (made up of players representing their home nations) for both men and women work towards winning the ultimate prize in international competition. In 2026, that men’s tournament will be held in North America, via host cities in the US, Canada, and Mexico with the championship game in New York. It’s what we would call a “big deal”. 

So here’s the biggest deal – YOU know soccer. You do. There’s no way around it. We started from scratch and worked our way up to the entire world. If that’s not progress, I don’t know what is. 

One thing I love about soccer is seeing the growth. As someone who helps run a grassroots youth club, it’s such a joy to see kids as young as 4 years old learn to kick a ball (and hopefully score in the right goal!), and then progress through the age groups, kicking farther, running faster, playing smarter, until eventually reaching the point where they play the same game as the pros. I hope you’ve felt like you’ve taken that growth as a fan of the game. 

This is where the lessons end, but the soccer learning never stops, baby! You’re already on board for my weekly Intro to Soccer newsletter, where I’ll keep you up to speed with the highlights of soccer here in the States.