Referees, Discipline and Match Officials

A futsal match is officiated by two referees, the referee and the second referee, both with full authority to enforce the Laws.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 5.1 · recall

Where the referee and the second referee disagree after both signalling an infringement, the referee's own decision prevails.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 5.2 · applied

The referees' decisions on facts connected with play, such as whether or not a goal is scored, and the match result, are final.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 5.3 · recall

Referees may change a decision on realising it is incorrect, provided play has not yet restarted or the match ended.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 5.4 · applied

A decision may only be changed before play has restarted or the match has ended, not afterward.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 5.4 · recall

Even with both referees holding full authority, the Law still specifies that the referee's decision prevails if the two disagree.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 5.2 (synthesis) · applied

A second referee is mandatory for international matches; the Law does not require one for every match played anywhere.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 5.5 · recall

The Law makes a second referee mandatory only for international matches; other levels aren't required to appoint one.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 5.5 · applied

Alongside enforcing the Laws and controlling the match, both referees are responsible for duties such as checking equipment compliance.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 5.1 · recall

Both the referee and the second referee have full authority to enforce the Laws, including awarding restarts like a penalty kick.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 5.1 · applied

Recording the details of cautioned or sent-off players is one of the third referee's duties.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 6 (third referee) · recall

The timekeeper manages the chronometer, starting it after a correct kick-off and stopping it when the ball goes out of play.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 6 (timekeeper) · recall

The third referee notifies the timekeeper of a requested timeout, and the timekeeper then signals it with a distinct acoustic signal.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 6 (third referee & timekeeper) · applied

Both the third referee and the timekeeper have duties around signalling a team's fifth accumulated foul, so the sixth is anticipated correctly.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 6 (third referee & timekeeper) · recall

Recording the goal scorer's number is one of the third referee's duties.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 6 (third referee) · applied

Checking a substitute's equipment before pitch entry is one of the third referee's duties.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 6 (third referee) · recall

Alerting the referees to an obvious error outside their own vision is one of the third referee's duties.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 6 (third referee) · applied

The timekeeper signals the end of a period or the match with an acoustic signal different from the referees' own whistle.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 6 (timekeeper) · recall

Supervising conduct in the technical area is one of the third referee's duties.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 6 (third referee) · applied

The timekeeper's core job is timing the match itself; the third referee's duties are mostly recording players, cautions, goals and other details.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 6 (synthesis) · recall

Futsal's Laws judge a sliding tackle under the same careless, reckless or excessive-force standard as any other challenge, with no rule written specifically for it.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12.1 (scope) · recall

Because there's no separate sliding-tackle rule, a clean challenge that wins the ball is judged the same whether or not it involved a slide.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12.1 (scope, synthesis) · applied

Persistent infringement of the Laws is a cautionable offence, shown with a yellow card.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12.4 (cautions) · recall

Offensive or abusive language is a send-off offence regardless of whether the offender is a player on the court or a substitute on the bench.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12.3 (send-offs, synthesis) · applied

Denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity is a send-off offence; persistent infringement is only cautionable.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12.3-12.4 (contrast) · recall

A caution allows the player to continue; a send-off removes him from the match and leaves his team briefly short-handed, a real practical difference.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12.3-12.4 (contrast, synthesis) · applied

Dissent by word or action toward a match official's decision is a cautionable offence.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12.4 (cautions) · recall

A second caution in the same match is one of the send-off offences, regardless of what the first caution was originally for.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12.3 (send-offs) · applied

Violent conduct is one of the send-off offences.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12.3 (send-offs) · recall

The restart, a direct free kick, and the disciplinary sanction are separate questions; an ordinary careless foul often draws only the free kick, with no card at all.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12 (synthesis) · applied

A goalkeeper handling the ball again in his own half after it was deliberately kicked to him by a team-mate is an indirect free kick offence.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12.2 (back-pass) · recall

The back-pass restriction applies specifically to a ball deliberately kicked to the goalkeeper; a header is a different method and isn't covered by it.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12.2 (back-pass, scope) · applied

Receiving the ball with his hands straight from a team-mate's kick-in is its own separate handling offence, distinct from the back-pass rule.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12.2 (kick-in handling) · recall

The back-pass restriction applies across the goalkeeper's whole own half, while the kick-in-handling restriction is narrower, covering only his own penalty area.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12.2 (contrast) · applied

The four-second control limit applies to the goalkeeper controlling the ball with either his hands or his feet in his own half, not just with his hands.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12.2 (four-second control) · recall

The back-pass restriction specifically requires that no opponent played or touched the ball in between the team-mate's kick and the goalkeeper's handling.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12.2 (back-pass, precise wording) · applied

Unlike the back-pass and kick-in-handling restrictions, which turn on where the ball came from, the four-second limit is a straightforward time measure.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12.2 (synthesis) · recall

Futsal restarts the touchline with a kick-in, not a throw-in, so a scenario built on a throw-in simply doesn't arise under these Laws.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 15.1 (contrast, synthesis) · applied

A penalty area is naturally the smaller of the two zones, and that's the one the kick-in rule is confined to.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12.2 (contrast) · recall

A deflection is still a touch by another player, and that's all it takes to clear the restriction, whatever caused the deflection.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12.2 (back-pass, synthesis) · applied

The substitute may only enter the court after the player being replaced has already left it.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3 (substitution procedure) · recall

Both the departing player and the substitute must use their own team's substitution zone.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3 (substitution procedure) · recall

A substitute entering before the player being replaced has left is cautioned and ordered off the court for infringing the procedure.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3 (improper substitution) · applied

An improper substitution that stops play restarts with an indirect free kick to the opposing team, taken from the ball's position when play stopped.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3 (improper substitution, restart) · recall

When the ball was inside the penalty area at the stoppage, the indirect free kick for an improper substitution is taken from the 6 m line, nearest that spot.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3 & 13 (position of free kick) · applied

The referees decide whether a challenge is a foul in the first place; the timekeeper's job is only to track and signal the running tally once it's given.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 5, 6 & 12 (synthesis) · applied

A caution is a personal disciplinary sanction on a player; an indirect free kick for improper substitution is simply the restart that follows a procedural breach, a different kind of consequence.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3 & 12 (synthesis) · applied

Awarding restarts is a power held by the referee and the second referee; the third referee's role is support and record-keeping, not making those calls.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 5 & 6 (synthesis) · recall

Technical-area conduct, substitution procedure, and fouls sit under different Laws, 6, 3 and 12 respectively, even when they happen in the same passage of play.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Laws 3, 6 & 12 (synthesis) · applied

The referee-versus-second-referee tie-break, the divided duties of the third referee and timekeeper, and the goalkeeper's separate back-pass, kick-in and time restrictions all exist to keep each role and limit clearly defined rather than overlapping.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Laws 3, 5, 6 & 12 (purpose, synthesis) · recall