Impeding means moving into an opponent's path when the ball is not playable.

The ruleset used on this page

This page applies The IFAB Laws of the Game 2026/27 for association football, especially Laws 12 and 13 and The IFAB glossary. The edition took effect on 1 July 2026. Under IFAB Circular no. 32, a competition which began before that date could adopt the changes early or defer them until the start of its next competition.

No 2026/27 amendment changed the basic tests for impeding or shielding. Competition rules can still control whether the edition has been adopted, whether VAR is used and how disciplinary consequences are administered. They do not turn this page into a rule for futsal, beach soccer, American football or another football code.

Movement, distance and effect decide the offence

Law 12.2 defines impeding through an observable sequence:

1. The ball is in play. A free kick or penalty kick can be awarded only for an offence committed while it is in play.
2. The player moves into an opponent's path. The movement obstructs, blocks, slows the opponent or forces a change of direction.
3. The ball is not within playing distance of either player. The player is therefore not lawfully shielding a ball which can be played.

The law does not require the referee to prove a player's private intention. The official judges the route, timing, access to the ball and effect of the movement. A player running normally towards the ball is not automatically guilty merely because an opponent has to alter course.

There is no fixed one-metre shielding radius

The IFAB glossary defines “playing distance” as the distance which lets a player touch the ball by extending a foot or leg or by jumping; for a goalkeeper it can include jumping with the arms extended. It depends on the player's physical size.

Referees therefore do not apply a universal number of steps or metres. They judge whether that player could actually play the ball in that moment. Being the player nearest to the ball, expecting to reach it soon or allowing it to roll towards the touchline is not enough if it is presently outside playing distance.

Being in the way is not moving into the way

Law 12 expressly protects each player's right to their position on the field. A player already occupying space does not have to step aside simply because an opponent wants to run through it. Accidental crossing of paths is not automatically a foul either.

The issue changes when the player adjusts line or speed to place their body in the opponent's route while neither can play the ball. A late sideways step, curved run or repeated matching movement can supply the blocking action even if the player never extends an arm. Referees must distinguish that action from a genuine run to the ball or ordinary positional play.

A playable ball may be shielded

A player may take a position between an opponent and the ball when the ball is within playing distance. That is legal shielding, including when the player chooses not to touch the ball immediately.

Shielding does not authorise holding the opponent away with an arm or a separate body action. The opponent may make a fair charge while the ball is within playing distance, but a careless, reckless or excessively forceful charge remains a direct-free-kick offence. The shielding player also loses the Law 12 protection if the ball rolls beyond playing distance and the player then changes course simply to keep blocking the opponent.

Classify the illegal act before choosing the restart

Law 12.2 lists impeding without contact as an indirect-free-kick offence. Law 12.1 separately lists impeding an opponent with contact as a direct-free-kick offence. The same incident may instead be described more precisely as holding, pushing or charging, depending on what occurred.

Not every brush of bodies is an offence. First decide whether the position, shielding or challenge was illegal; then decide whether that illegal act involved contact. A player who lawfully holds an existing position is not transformed into an offender merely because the pursuing opponent runs into them.

Indirect free kick, direct free kick or penalty

• No contact: indirect free kick to the opposing team from the place of the offence, subject to Law 13's goal-area exception.
• Contact: direct free kick from the place of the offence.
• Defender's contact offence inside their own penalty area: penalty kick.
• Defender's no-contact offence inside their own penalty area: still an indirect free kick, not a penalty kick.

If a defending player commits no-contact impeding inside their own goal area, the attacking indirect free kick is taken from the nearest point on the goal-area line parallel to the goal line. A defending team's free kick for an offence in its own goal area may be taken from anywhere in that area. The referee raises an arm for an indirect free kick; a goal cannot be scored directly from it.

A pre-kick screen cannot create a free kick

Direct free kicks, indirect free kicks and penalties under Law 12 require the ball to be in play. At a corner or free kick, players often jostle and cross routes before the kick is taken. If an act occurs before the ball is kicked and clearly moves, it cannot create a Law 12 free-kick restart; the original restart is taken or retaken.

Misconduct can still be punished even while the ball is out of play. Once the restart puts the ball in play, an off-ball block is judged in the usual way. This timing distinction is why two visually similar set-piece screens can produce different restarts.

The referee may let a useful attack continue

The referee may apply advantage if the team whose player was impeded retains a better attacking opportunity. If the expected benefit does not develop within the next few seconds, the referee can return to the original offence and award the appropriate indirect or direct free kick.

Law 12.4 treats the card separately. If advantage restores an attack that the offence had only interfered with or stopped, there is no later caution solely for stopping a promising attack. A separate basis such as a reckless contact offence still requires the appropriate sanction. Under the 2026/27 change, if advantage is played after a DOGSO offence and a goal is scored, there is no caution for that DOGSO offence.

Impeding is not automatically a yellow card

The restart and disciplinary sanction answer different questions. An ordinary impeding offence needs no card. A caution is required if the offence interferes with or stops a promising attack, unless a Law 12 exception applies; impeding with contact can also be cautionable if it is reckless. Excessive force is a sending-off offence.

If any free-kick offence denies an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (DOGSO), a sending-off can follow. When a penalty is awarded, the reduced sanction applies only where the DOGSO offence was an attempt to play or a challenge for the ball. A block with no possibility of playing the ball does not receive that reduction. No-contact DOGSO in the defender's penalty area still produces an indirect free kick, so the penalty-kick reduction does not apply.

Most impeding calls are not reviewable by themselves

Where a competition uses authorised VAR, an ordinary midfield impeding decision or first yellow-card decision is not a standalone review category. VAR may become involved when the incident forms part of a goal/no-goal, penalty/no-penalty or red-card decision, including DOGSO, subject to the IFAB VAR protocol.

VAR does not decide the match. The referee must make an initial decision and remains responsible for the final ruling. Whether a competition has VAR at all is set by that competition, not by Law 12's definition of impeding.

The defender lets the ball roll out

Situation: a defender runs between an attacker and a slowly rolling ball near the goal line. The defender can reach the ball by extending a leg but chooses not to touch it. The defender uses position, not an arm or a holding action, to protect the ball.

IFAB 2026/27 ruling: play on. The ball is within the defender's playing distance, so the defender may shield it. The attacker may challenge or fairly charge but has no right to a clear route through the defender's occupied space.

The ball rolls beyond the shield

Situation: the same ball rolls several strides beyond the defender's reach. The defender looks away from the ball and steps sideways across the attacker's new route. There is no contact.

IFAB 2026/27 ruling: indirect free kick. The ball is outside both players' playing distance and the sideways movement blocks the attacker. The exact restart location is where the impeding movement occurred, not where the ball was.

A teammate sets an off-ball screen

Situation: after a through pass is played, an attacker curves into a defender's chasing line so another attacker can collect it. The ball is not within playing distance of the blocker or the defender, and they do not touch.

IFAB 2026/27 ruling: indirect free kick to the defending team at the screen. The fact that the blocker is helping a teammate rather than trying to gain the ball personally does not legalise moving into the defender's path.

The same screen occurs before a corner

Situation: an attacker moves across a defender before the corner kick has been taken. The referee judges the action to be unfair but not otherwise cautionable.

IFAB 2026/27 ruling: no free kick can be awarded because the ball was not in play. Manage the players and take the corner kick. If the conduct independently requires a card, show it, but the restart remains the corner. If the block instead occurs after the ball is kicked and clearly moves, apply the contact and playing-distance tests.

Contact outside the penalty area

Situation: an attacker knocks the ball around a defender. The ball is outside both players' playing distance when the defender steps across and unfairly blocks the attacker with the body.

IFAB 2026/27 ruling: direct free kick for impeding with contact. No card is automatic. Caution if the offence is reckless or stops a promising attack; send off if excessive force is used or the offence is DOGSO. This follows The IFAB's current Law 12 FAQ for the same ruling pattern.

No-contact block inside the penalty area

Situation: a defender, with no possibility of playing a through ball, moves across a striker's route inside the defender's penalty area. The striker changes direction and avoids contact.

IFAB 2026/27 ruling: indirect free kick, not a penalty. If the facts meet the Law 12 DOGSO tests, the defender is sent off; the penalty-area reduction is unavailable because the restart is not a penalty kick and the action was not an attempt to play or challenge for the ball.

How to analyse a replay

1. Check the clock of the incident: was the ball already in play?
2. Track the alleged blocker's route: already holding space, genuinely pursuing the ball, or moving into the opponent's path?
3. Freeze the decisive moment: was the ball within playing distance of either player?
4. Identify the effect: did the movement obstruct, block, slow or force a change of direction?
5. Separate contact from collision: did the illegal block involve contact, or did an opponent merely collide with a lawful position?
6. Choose the restart: indirect free kick without contact; direct free kick with contact; penalty only for a defending direct-free-kick offence in their own penalty area.
7. Assess attack impact and force separately: no card, caution or sending-off.
8. Check advantage and review limits: did play continue beneficially, and is the incident within a VAR category used by that competition?

Six claims to avoid

• “No contact means no offence.” Law 12.2 specifically creates the no-contact impeding offence.
• “Any contact means a foul.” Contact does not cancel a player's right to position or make legal shielding illegal.
• “The nearest player can always shield.” The ball must be within playing distance, not merely nearer to that player than anyone else.
• “Playing distance is one metre.” IFAB sets no fixed distance; it depends on whether that player can play the ball and on physical size.
• “Anything inside the penalty area is a penalty.” No-contact impeding remains an indirect-free-kick offence.
• “A tactical block is always yellow.” The card depends on promising-attack or DOGSO impact, force, advantage and other Law 12 grounds.

Governing-body sources and effective version

• The IFAB — Laws of the Game 2026/27, Law 12.1, 12.2 and 12.4, including current official FAQs
• The IFAB — Laws of the Game 2026/27, Law 13.1–13.2: free-kick type, signal and location
• The IFAB — Laws of the Game 2026/27, Law 5.3: advantage
• The IFAB — Laws of the Game 2026/27 glossary: “playing distance”, “holding offence”, “impede” and “charge”
• The IFAB — Laws of the Game 2026/27, VAR protocol: reviewable decisions and incidents
• The IFAB — Changes to the Laws of the Game 2026/27, Law 12 and VAR amendments
• The IFAB — Circular no. 32, 31 March 2026: 2026/27 effective date and competition adoption window

Checked against The IFAB's live 2026/27 Laws and FAQs, the 2026/27 law-change material updated after the main approval, and Circular no. 32. The amendments do not change the impeding, contact, shielding or restart tests explained here. A competition that began before 1 July 2026 may still be using the previous edition until its next competition; its regulations also determine whether VAR is used.