A personal foul does not automatically mean free throws.

The rule and version used here

This page applies the FIBA Official Basketball Rules 2024, version 1.0a, valid from 1 October 2024. It covers international five-a-side basketball and FIBA-based competitions, especially Articles 15, 32–35 and 40–44. It was checked on 26 August 2026.

FIBA has published its 2026 rules for 1 October 2026, but they are not the current rules on the checked date. NBA, WNBA, NCAA, NFHS, 3x3, youth and domestic competitions can use different foul limits, penalty counts, terminology and free-throw procedures. A comparison with the latest published 2025–26 NBA rulebook appears below; this page does not combine the codes.

Contact becomes a foul when it is illegal and consequential

FIBA Article 34.1 defines a personal foul as a player's illegal contact with an opponent, whether the ball is live or dead. Holding, blocking, pushing, charging, tripping, impeding with an extended body part, and rough or violent play are named examples. That definition does not make every touch a foul.

Articles 33 and 47.3 require the referee to consider each player's cylinder, verticality, legal guarding position, time and distance where applicable, and advantage or disadvantage. Incidental contact that gives no advantage and puts no opponent at a disadvantage should not interrupt the game. A hand resting on an opponent is not judged like a hand that restricts movement; a vertical defender is not judged like one who moves under an airborne player.

Work from the contact to the restart

1. Was the contact illegal? Apply the cylinder, verticality, guarding, screening and advantage/disadvantage principles in Articles 33 and 47.3.
2. Who caused it? The defender, ball-handler, screener, rebounder or an off-ball player can be responsible.
3. Was it an ordinary personal foul? Contact meeting unsportsmanlike or disqualifying criteria has its own penalty.
4. Was the fouled player shooting? Freeze the action at the contact and apply Article 15, including continuous movement.
5. Did the shot go in? A valid goal plus 1 free throw differs from an unsuccessful 2- or 3-point attempt.
6. If not shooting, was the defence in the team-foul penalty? After 4 team fouls in the quarter, the next qualifying personal foul is 2 free throws.
7. Does an exception control? Check team control, a late throw-in foul, a double foul, multiple penalties, injury and any approved replay process.

The timing of the contact decides “shots or side”

Under current FIBA Article 15.1.2, an ordinary act of shooting starts when the player begins moving the ball upwards towards the opponents' basket. On a drive or other moving shot, Article 15.1.3 starts continuous movement when the ball has come to rest in the player's hands after the dribble or an airborne catch and the player begins the shooting motion preceding release.

The act ends when the ball leaves the hands, when an entirely new shooting act begins or, for an airborne shooter, when both feet return to the floor. The number of legal steps does not decide whether the player was shooting. A player held before releasing can still be a shooter; a player who passes after being fouled is no longer treated as having been in the act of shooting.

Article 10.4 preserves continuation: if the shooter controls the ball and completes the same motion that began before an opponent's foul, the ball does not become dead and the goal counts if made. A new shooting act after the whistle does not count.

The four basic personal-foul outcomes

• Not shooting, no team penalty: the non-offending team receives a throw-in from the place nearest the infraction (Article 34.2.1).
• Successful shot: the 2- or 3-point goal counts and the fouled shooter receives 1 additional free throw (Article 34.2.2).
• Missed 2-point shot: the fouled shooter receives 2 free throws.
• Missed 3-point shot: the fouled shooter receives 3 free throws.

A made basket plus one is not increased again merely because the defence was also in the team-foul penalty. The shooting-foul penalty already controls.

The fifth team foul in a quarter changes the penalty

FIBA Article 41 counts a personal, technical, unsportsmanlike or disqualifying foul committed by a player as a team foul. A team enters the penalty after committing 4 team fouls in a quarter. Each following ordinary personal foul on a player not in the act of shooting is then 2 free throws for the player fouled instead of a throw-in.

Fouls in an interval count in the following quarter or overtime. Every overtime uses the fourth-quarter team-foul total; the count does not reset for overtime.

The player total is separate. Article 40.1 says a player who has committed 5 fouls must leave immediately and becomes an excluded player. The team may replace that player, so this is player removal rather than the team playing short. It is also distinct from a disqualifying foul.

Some contact carries a different penalty

• Late throw-in foul: with 2:00 or less in the fourth quarter or any overtime, illegal defensive contact on an on-court opponent while the throw-in ball is still with the referee or at the thrower's disposal is 1 free throw for the fouled player, with no line-up, followed by the non-offending team's throw-in. This applies regardless of the team-foul count (Articles 34.1.2 and 34.2.3).
• Double foul: when the Article 35 tests are met, each player is charged but no free throws are awarded. Play resumes according to whether a goal was scored, a team had control or entitlement, or neither team did.
• Unsportsmanlike contact: under the current 2024 code, Article 37 can cover non-basketball contact, excessive hard contact, certain transition-stopping contact and clear-path-type contact. It brings the applicable free throws followed by a frontcourt throw-in, not the ordinary personal-foul restart.
• Disqualifying contact: Article 38 applies to flagrant unsportsmanlike action and includes removal from the game plus its prescribed free throws and possession.
• Contact after the ball is dead: Article 32.1.3 disregards a foul after the horn or another infraction has made the ball dead unless the act is technical, unsportsmanlike or disqualifying. “The ball was dead” therefore does not immunise serious conduct.

The player fouled normally takes the free throws

For a personal or other contact foul, FIBA Article 43.2.1 assigns the free throws to the player who was fouled. A player due to be substituted must shoot first. If that player must leave because of injury, a fifth foul or disqualification, the substitute shoots; if no substitute is available, the head coach designates a team-mate.

That differs from a technical or disqualifying non-contact foul, for which the opposing head coach may designate any team member. Letting the wrong player shoot is not a harmless choice: Article 44 treats an unmerited, omitted or wrong-shooter free throw as a correctable error, but only within the rule's time limits.

Release, lane entry and the last attempt use different moments

• The shooter stands behind the free-throw line and inside the semi-circle, must release within 5 seconds, and must make the ball enter the basket or touch the ring.
• The shooter cannot touch the free-throw line or enter the restricted area until the ball enters the basket or touches the ring, and cannot fake the attempt.
• Players in marked rebound places may enter the restricted area when the ball leaves the shooter's hands. Players outside those places stay behind the free-throw line extended and behind the 3-point line until the free throw ends.
• When another set of free throws or a throw-in will follow, all players remain outside; there is no live rebound from that attempt.

On a successful free throw, a violation by anyone other than the shooter is disregarded and the point counts. On a missed last free throw, a shooter or team-mate violation gives the opponents a throw-in; an opponent's violation gives a substitute free throw; violations by both teams create a jump-ball situation and an alternating-possession throw-in.

Video does not reopen every no-call

Where an approved Instant Replay System is available, FIBA Appendix F permits defined reviews, not a general re-officiating of all contact. At any time, referees may review whether an unsuccessful shooting foul warrants 2 or 3 free throws and whether a called foul should be upgraded or downgraded among the listed foul categories. In the last 2:00 of the fourth quarter and overtime, specified timing questions around an off-ball foul and the act of shooting are also reviewable.

Each team has one head coach's challenge in an IRS game, whether successful or not, and only situations listed in Appendix F.3 may be challenged. Separately, Article 44 permits correction of defined administration errors—such as missing merited free throws or using the wrong shooter—within strict windows. Review and correction do not create a general right to overturn ordinary referee judgement after play.

A defender commits the fifth team foul away from a shot

Situation: in the third quarter, Blue has already committed 4 team fouls. Blue 7 holds White 4 before White begins the act of shooting.

FIBA 2024 ruling: White 4 attempts 2 free throws. The decisive fact is that this is the next qualifying personal foul after Blue entered the Article 41 team-foul penalty.

An attacker charges while the team is over the limit

Situation: White controls the ball and has 5 team fouls in the quarter. White 8 charges into a defender who established legal guarding position.

FIBA 2024 ruling: Blue receives a nearest-place throw-in; there are no penalty free throws. The decisive fact is team control, so Article 41.2.2 overrides the ordinary two-shot team penalty.

The three-point shot goes in after contact

Situation: White 5 begins a 3-point shooting motion, Blue 9 illegally contacts the shooter's arm, and White 5 completes the same motion and scores.

FIBA 2024 ruling: count 3 points and award White 5 one additional free throw. The decisive facts are that the act of shooting began before the foul and no entirely new shooting act followed the whistle.

A defender holds before a late throw-in

Situation: 1:24 remains in the fourth quarter. The ball is at White's thrower's disposal when Blue 6 holds White 10 on the court. Blue has only 2 team fouls.

FIBA 2024 ruling: White 10 attempts 1 free throw with no line-up, then White takes the throw-in nearest the foul. The low team-foul count does not matter because Article 34's late throw-in-foul penalty controls.

Both teams violate on a missed last free throw

Situation: on the last free throw, a defender steps into the restricted area before release and the shooter misses the ring.

FIBA 2024 ruling: both teams have violated. This is a jump-ball situation, resumed by the alternating-possession procedure. The defender entered early and the shooter failed to make the ball enter the basket or touch the ring.

The 2025–26 NBA rulebook is not the FIBA code

The broad shooting-foul pattern is similar, but several details differ under the 2025–26 NBA Playing Rules:

• An NBA player is disqualified on the sixth personal foul; FIBA excludes a player after 5 fouls.
• The NBA gives the free-throw shooter 10 seconds; FIBA gives 5 seconds.
• The NBA also penalises common team fouls in excess of 4 in a regulation period, but it has a separate overtime quota and a last-two-minutes allowance when a team has not used its quota. FIBA carries fourth-quarter team fouls into every overtime.
• An ordinary NBA offensive foul does not count as a team foul and never produces penalty free throws. Under FIBA, a player's personal team-control foul counts in the team total but is still penalised by a throw-in.
• The NBA uses its own flagrant, clear-path, away-from-the-play and transition-take-foul categories. Those labels must not be substituted for FIBA's 2024 unsportsmanlike-foul criteria.

A published FIBA change is coming, but is not yet effective

FIBA's 2026 rules take effect on 1 October 2026. They revise Article 15's act-of-shooting wording, including separate treatment of jump shots and drives, and replace the 2024 “unsportsmanlike foul” category with “disruptive” and “flagrant” foul categories. The ordinary Article 34 personal-foul penalty pattern remains recognisable, but readers and officials must use the new definitions once that effective date arrives.

FIBA said the updated 2026 Official Interpretations would be published in September; they were not available on the checked date. This page therefore does not predict how every new definition will be applied to edge cases. It deliberately applies the rules in force on 26 August 2026. A competition adopting FIBA changes on another schedule should follow the organising body's implementation notice.

Five shortcuts that produce the wrong ruling

• “Any contact is a foul.” FIBA uses legality plus advantage/disadvantage; incidental contact can be ignored.
• “The gather always means shooting.” Under current FIBA 2024 wording, a moving shot also requires the shooting motion preceding release. The 2026 definition is not yet effective.
• “The fifth team foul always means two shots.” A team-control foul remains a throw-in, and special foul penalties control their own administration.
• “Everyone can enter when the ball is released.” That release point applies to players in marked rebound places; players outside remain behind the prescribed lines until the free throw ends.
• “NBA bonus and foul-out rules are universal.” NBA and FIBA use different player limits, timing and penalty details.

Governing-body sources and effective versions

• FIBA — Official Basketball Rules 2024 v1.0a, valid 1 October 2024: Articles 10, 15, 32–35, 40–44 and 47; Appendix F
• FIBA — Official Basketball Rules Interpretations 2024 v1.0a, valid 1 October 2024: Articles 34, 43 and 44
• FIBA — Official Basketball Rules 2026 v1.1, effective 1 October 2026: Articles 15 and 36–38 (published future rules, not yet effective on the checked date)
• FIBA — 2026 rule-changes announcement: 1 October 2026 effective date and Official Interpretations publication schedule
• NBA — Official 2025–26 NBA Playing Rules: Rules 2, 4, 9 and 12

Checked on 26 August 2026 against the current FIBA 2024 rulebook and interpretations, the already-published FIBA 2026 rulebook effective 1 October 2026, and the NBA's 2025–26 rulebook for the labelled comparison. Competition regulations, national-federation adaptations and age-grade rules may supplement or replace this baseline.