Scope
The ruleset and date used here
The primary scope is the FIBA Official Basketball Rules 2024, version 1.0a, valid from 1 October 2024, together with the 2024 Official Basketball Rules Interpretations, version 1.0a. FIBA's resource library still identifies that edition as current on 26 August 2026.
FIBA has already published its 2026 book, but that edition is expressly valid only from 1 October 2026. Its Article 31 keeps the same core goaltending test. A forthcoming replay change is identified below rather than applied early.
The comparison section uses the NBA 2025–26 Official Rules. NCAA, NFHS, national federations and local competitions can use different text or administration; their rules should not be inferred from either FIBA or NBA wording.
Two concepts
Goaltending and basket interference are not synonyms
FIBA Article 31 uses goaltending for an illegal touch of a field-goal shot or free throw in flight. It uses basket interference for listed acts involving the ring, net, backboard or a ball within or reached through the basket.
Either an offensive or defensive player can commit FIBA goaltending. That matters because “offensive goaltending” is valid FIBA terminology, even though some other rulesets classify comparable attacking-team acts differently.
Decision path
How to judge the play under FIBA 2024
- Identify the ruleset. The FIBA and NBA ring-area restrictions are not interchangeable.
- Identify the attempt. Is this a field-goal shot, a free throw, a pass, or a rebound after ring contact?
- For a field-goal shot, locate the whole ball. It must be completely above the level of the ring for FIBA goaltending.
- Check its history and direction. Is it descending toward the basket, or has it already touched the backboard?
- Check whether protection has ended. Goaltending no longer applies once the shot has no possibility of entering or has touched the ring.
- Run the separate interference tests. Look for illegal contact with the basket or backboard, a touch through the basket, vibration, grasping, or a defender touching a ball within the basket.
- Identify the violating team. That decides whether points are cancelled or awarded and where play resumes.
Shot flight
Four facts must line up for field-goal goaltending
Under FIBA Articles 31.1.1 and 31.2.1–31.2.3, the touch must concern a shot that has not ended, the ball must be completely above ring level, and the ball must either be descending toward the basket or have touched the backboard. It must also retain a possibility of entering the basket.
A shot begins when it leaves the shooter's hands. For Article 31, it ends when it enters, can no longer enter, touches the ring or floor, or becomes dead. The phrase “completely above” is important: being partly level with the ring is not enough for this FIBA goaltending test.
The apex is a boundary: FIBA Interpretation 31-16 says a touch at the shot's highest point is legal when the ball has not begun to descend. Without prior backboard contact, the illegal phase begins after the highest point, not at it.
Backboard
Backboard contact creates an independent trigger
Once a field-goal shot has touched the backboard, a player may not touch it while it is completely above ring level and still has a possibility of entering, even if the ball is still rising. This follows directly from FIBA Article 31.2.1: downward flight and prior backboard contact are alternatives.
A chase-down block can therefore be legal immediately before the ball reaches the glass but goaltending immediately afterward. Backboard contact does not erase the other FIBA requirements: the ball still must be completely above ring level and capable of entering, and goaltending protection still ends at ring contact.
Ring contact
In FIBA, touching the ring ends goaltending protection
When a live field-goal shot touches the ring, FIBA's goaltending restriction ends. A player may then play the ball as a rebound, even if it remains above the ring and could still fall in. There is no general FIBA rule making every touch of a ball in an imaginary cylinder above the ring illegal.
That does not make everything around the ring legal. While the ball is in contact with the ring and still has a chance to enter, a player may not touch the basket or backboard. A player also may not grasp the basket to play the ball, cause the basket to move so that the ball takes an unnatural bounce or changes direction, or reach through the basket from below to touch the ball.
Within the basket
FIBA treats offense and defense differently once the ball breaks the ring plane
A ball is “within the basket” when even its slightest part is inside and below ring level. FIBA Article 31.2.4 prohibits a defensive player from touching the ball or basket in that position to prevent the ball passing through.
Official Interpretation 31-25 makes the boundary unusually clear: when a shot is circling the ring with its slightest part within the basket, a defender's touch is interference, but an offensive player's touch of the ball is legal. Touching the basket or backboard while the ball is on the ring remains a separate interference test for either team.
Basket movement
Contact alone is not the whole vibration test
FIBA does not make every touch of the ring, net or backboard basket interference. Under Article 31.2.4, a player must cause the basket to vibrate or grasp it in a way that gives the ball an unnatural bounce or changes its direction, thereby preventing a score or causing one. Referee judgment about the effect on the ball is therefore part of this call.
Separately, grasping the basket and playing the ball is interference. Hanging on the ring can also be a technical foul under Article 36, subject to the safety exceptions there, even when Article 31's effect-on-the-ball test is not met.
Free throws
Free throws use a stricter flight rule
FIBA Article 31.2.2 defines goaltending on a free throw when any player touches the ball in flight to the basket before it touches the ring. The field-goal requirements about being completely above ring level and descending do not apply to this free-throw test.
If a free throw is followed by another free throw, Article 31.2.4 also prohibits touching the ball, basket or backboard while the attempt still has a possibility of entering. Defensive goaltending on a last free throw awards 1 point and is followed by the technical-foul penalty against the defender under Articles 31.3.3 and 36.2.1.
After an unsuccessful last free throw touches the ring, legal rebound play begins. If a player then legally taps the ball and it enters, FIBA Interpretation 31-5 treats the result as a 2-point goal rather than a 1-point free throw.
Whistle and horn
The end signal does not necessarily end the attempt
If the game-clock signal sounds while a timely shot is in flight, the ball can remain live until the attempt is resolved. FIBA Article 31.2.5 keeps all goaltending and interference restrictions in force. After the signal—or after a referee's whistle during a shot or last free throw—no player may touch the ball after it has touched the ring while it still has a possibility of entering.
This is a special end-of-play restriction. During ordinary live play, ring contact ends goaltending and the ball may be rebounded. After the horn, an offensive touch of a ring-bouncing ball prevents any resulting goal from counting; a defensive touch can cause the original shooter to be awarded 2 or 3 points. FIBA Interpretation 31-12 supplies those outcomes.
Outcome
Who violates determines the remedy
- Offensive violation: no points are awarded. The opponents receive a throw-in from the free-throw-line extended unless another rule controls the restart.
- Defensive violation on a field-goal shot: award 2 or 3 points according to where the ball was released. FIBA treats the award as though the ball entered the basket.
- Defensive violation on a free throw: award 1 point. Defensive goaltending on the last free throw also carries the technical-foul penalty.
- Simultaneous offensive and defensive goaltending: no points and an alternating-possession throw-in, as in FIBA Interpretation 31-21.
Goaltending and basket interference are violations, not personal fouls. A separate illegal-contact, technical or other foul can still be penalised when the facts satisfy that rule as well.
Replay · FIBA
A called ruling can be reviewed, but only through the authorised route
In a FIBA game equipped with an Instant Replay System, the 2024 Appendix F permits officials to review whether a called goaltending or basket-interference violation was correct when the game clock shows 2:00 or less in the fourth quarter or an overtime. Clear and conclusive video is required to change the initial decision.
A head coach's challenge can bring the same listed issue to review at any time, because the Appendix F time restriction does not apply to the challenge. The 2024 system grants one challenge for the game regardless of success. These provisions apply only where the competition uses IRS; local games without approved replay remain with the court ruling.
Version watch: FIBA 2026 v1.1, effective 1 October 2026, adds an at-any-time review question about whether goaltending or basket interference occurred after a foul and whether it was called correctly. That expansion is not yet the effective rule on this page's 26 August 2026 check date.
NBA variation
The NBA protects the imaginary cylinder
The NBA 2025–26 Rule 11 is materially different. A player may not touch any ball from the playing area when it is above the ring and within the imaginary cylinder. The rule also prohibits touching a ball sitting or rolling on the ring, or the ring itself when the ball is using it as its lower base. This cylinder restriction applies to offense and defense and is why some NBA tip-ins are illegal even though the same ball could be played after ring contact under FIBA.
The NBA also prohibits touching a field-goal attempt with a chance to score after it has hit the backboard above ring level, whether rising or falling. It separately covers a ball that hit the board below ring level while rising, trapping the ball against the backboard, a downward ball with an opportunity to score, reaching through the ring, and outcome-changing vibration or rim movement.
There is a narrow continuity exception: if a player near that player's own basket has already established legal hand contact with the ball, continuing that contact after the ball enters the cylinder—or touching the basket during that same action—is not a violation.
NBA replay
Challenge before two minutes; official trigger after it
Under NBA 2025–26 Rules 13 and 14, a coach may challenge a called goaltending or basket-interference violation before the last two minutes of the fourth period or overtime. In those last two minutes, the on-court officials exclusively trigger the review when they are not reasonably certain the call was correct. A non-call is not challengeable.
Each NBA team starts with one challenge and earns a second if its first is successful. This is an NBA competition procedure and should not be used to explain a FIBA challenge.
Worked case 1
A chase-down block arrives just after the glass
Situation: A1 releases a lay-up. The ball strikes the backboard, remains completely above ring level and can still enter when defender B1 swats it away.
FIBA 2024 ruling: defensive goaltending under Article 31.2.1. Award A1's team 2 points. The decisive facts are prior backboard contact, the whole ball above ring level, and a continuing possibility to score; the ball need not already be descending.
Worked case 2
The defender meets a clean shot at its apex
Situation: A1's shot has not touched the backboard. B1 touches it at its highest point while it is completely above the ring.
FIBA 2024 ruling: legal play. Interpretation 31-16 says the touch becomes illegal only once the ball has started downward. If replay shows downward movement had begun, the same touch is goaltending if the ball still could enter.
Worked case 3
A shot bounces above the rim after ring contact
Situation: the ball hits the ring, rises directly above it and is tapped away before falling back.
FIBA 2024 ruling: the ball touch is legal during ordinary live play because ring contact ended goaltending protection. The player must not illegally touch the basket or backboard while the ball remains in contact with the ring.
NBA 2025–26 ruling: the touch is illegal if the ball is above the ring and inside the imaginary cylinder. The decisive difference is the NBA cylinder rule, not the direction of flight.
Worked case 4
The ball has begun to enter but has not cleared the net
Situation: a shot circles the ring with a small part of the ball inside and below ring level. A teammate of the shooter touches the ball; in a second version, a defender does so.
FIBA 2024 ruling: the offensive touch is legal, while the defensive touch is basket interference and awards the shot's value. Interpretation 31-25 makes the slightest part inside and below ring level enough to place the ball within the basket.
Worked case 5
The horn sounds while the ball is bouncing on the ring
Situation: A1 released a 3-point shot before the quarter signal. The ball hits the ring, can still enter, and B1 then knocks it away after the signal.
FIBA 2024 ruling: defensive interference; award A1 3 points. Article 31.2.5 and Interpretation 31-12 prohibit either team from touching the still-live, ring-bouncing attempt after the horn. In ordinary live play before the horn, the same post-ring ball touch would be a legal rebound under FIBA.
Common misconceptions
Five shortcuts that produce the wrong call
- “Anything above the rim is goaltending.” FIBA requires a shot, the whole ball above ring level, the required flight or backboard trigger, and a possibility of scoring.
- “The ball must be descending after it hits the board.” Not under FIBA Article 31.2.1; backboard contact is an alternative trigger.
- “Once it hits the rim, nobody can touch it.” That describes the NBA cylinder more closely than FIBA's ordinary live-ball rule.
- “Goaltending is only defensive.” FIBA applies it to a player from either team; the remedies differ.
- “The horn makes every touch legal.” FIBA applies a special restriction to a ring-bouncing attempt that can still enter after the horn or relevant whistle.
Official references
Governing-body sources and effective versions
Checked on 26 August 2026 against FIBA's currently effective 2024 rules and interpretations, the published-but-not-yet-effective FIBA 2026 change notice, and the NBA 2025–26 rulebook. FIBA event regulations and national or local competition rules may supplement the baseline, particularly on replay availability.