# Referees, Discipline and Match Officials · Futsal Level 2: Elementary

Futsal · Level 2: Elementary · Insporta Book (https://book.insporta.app/futsal/level-2/referees-discipline-and-match-officials/)

Referees, Discipline and Match Officials in Futsal (Level 2: Elementary) on Insporta: 50 sourced facts behind 5 tests. Covers: the referees; and more.

This sub-level teaches the two referees' equal authority and the tie-break rule for when they disagree, and when a decision may still be changed; the third referee's and the timekeeper's own separate duties; discipline in practice — that a sliding tackle has no rule of its own, and a clearer look at which offences are cautionable against which are send-off; the goalkeeper's three distinct restrictions, the back-pass, the kick-in handling rule, and the four-second control limit, each with its own geographic or timing scope; and improper substitution, its sanction and its restart.

## Test 1: The Referees

- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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))
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)

## Test 2: The Third Referee and Timekeeper

- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))

## Test 3: Discipline in Practice

- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- Violent conduct is one of the send-off offences. (Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 12.3 (send-offs))
- 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))

## Test 4: The Goalkeeper's Restrictions

- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))

## Test 5: Improper Substitution and Putting It Together

- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))
- 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))

Sources: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26 (approved by the Bureau of the FIFA Council, effective 5 September 2025) for every rule. Free to download but not open-licensed, so questions are authored in original wording, never reproduced. A specific clause reference sits in each question's source field, never in the stem.

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