Futsal Rules Explained: Court Size, Fouls, Goalkeeper and Restarts

Futsal is five-a-side football played on a hard court, usually indoors, with a smaller low-bounce ball. A standard team has four outfield players and a goalkeeper. Matches are normally two 20-minute halves with a stopped clock, so the game is short on paper but frantic in practice.

The rules make it different from outdoor soccer in useful ways: there is no offside, touchline restarts are kick-ins, substitutions roll on and off, many restarts have a four-second clock, and team fouls are counted. After the sixth accumulated foul in a half, the next direct-free-kick foul becomes a dangerous no-wall free kick.

Futsal rules at a glance

If you only remember three things, remember these: no offside, four-second restarts and accumulated fouls. Those three rules explain most of the game’s speed.

Futsal court size calculator

Use this to check whether a court fits a standard adult range. It checks the playing rectangle only. Real venues also need run-off, benches, substitution zones, scorers’ table, spectator safety and local facility rules.

The youth option is only a planning check. FIFA allows competition organizers to modify some details for youth, disability, veteran and grassroots formats, but your local league’s document should state those changes.

Court dimensions and markings

Futsal is a line game, not a wall game. If the ball crosses the touchline or goal line, play restarts. There is no rebound wall like some indoor soccer leagues use.

Court size affects everything. A full 42 x 25 m court gives wingers more room to isolate defenders. A smaller recreational court turns every touch into pressure, which can be excellent for training but harsh on beginners.

How futsal differs from soccer

Futsal looks familiar until the ball goes out or the goalkeeper receives it. Then the differences show up fast.

This is why futsal develops quick feet. The court gives less time, the ball stays lower, and the lack of offside rewards clever movement. Outdoor football asks for more running range; futsal compresses the problem into one busy rectangle.

For the outdoor comparison, use how big a soccer field is and offside in soccer. If you are comparing indoor formats, our futsal vs indoor soccer guide explains the wall, surface and restart differences, while soccer ball weight and pressure helps show why the lower-bounce futsal ball changes the touch. Futsal borrows football’s roots but makes very different design choices.

Kick-ins, corners and the four-second rule

There are no throw-ins in futsal. When the ball crosses the touchline, the restart is a kick-in from the line. The ball must be stationary, and the restart has to happen quickly once the player is ready and the ball is positioned.

The four-second count applies to many restarts, including kick-ins, corner kicks, free kicks and goal clearances. It also applies when the goalkeeper controls the ball in their own half. Referees visibly count, and a delay can hand possession to the opponent.

That one clock changes the whole mood of the sport. You cannot stroll to the ball, scan for ten seconds and restart when everyone is comfortable. The game keeps nudging you to make the next decision.

Accumulated fouls and the 10-metre free kick

Futsal does not only punish a single foul. It tracks repeated direct-free-kick fouls by team.

This rule keeps defending honest. Tactical fouls become expensive, because the sixth one gives the other team a clear shot with no wall.

Goalkeeper rules

The futsal goalkeeper is not just a smaller-court version of a soccer keeper. The role has extra possession restrictions.

The keeper cannot handle a ball deliberately kicked by a teammate. After releasing the ball, the keeper also cannot receive it again in their own half until an opponent touches it or the ball has gone out of play. The keeper must also deal with the four-second count when controlling the ball in their own half.

In attack, many teams use a flying goalkeeper or rush keeper late in a match. That means the goalkeeper or an extra outfield player joins the attack to create a 5-on-4 possession shape. It can work, but the empty goal is sitting there waiting for a loose pass. Very futsal. Tiny court, huge consequences.

Timeouts and substitutions

Standard futsal gives each team one one-minute timeout per half. A team can normally request it when it has possession and the ball is out of play. There is no saved timeout if you skip the first half.

Substitutions are rolling and unlimited, but they are not random. Players use the substitution zone near the benches, and the player leaving must come off before the replacement enters. Bad substitutions can be punished because they create an unfair extra-player moment.

This is where futsal feels more like basketball or hockey than outdoor football. Coaches can rotate tired players, press in bursts and use timeouts to repair a game that is slipping away.

Common beginner mistakes

One more: do not assume “2-touch rule” is a FIFA law. Some youth coaches or local leagues use touch limits as a development rule, but standard futsal does not require every player to take exactly two touches.

Sources

• FIFA futsal
• FIFA official documents
• FIFA rules of futsal explained
• US Youth Futsal rules and 2025-26 FIFA law links
• The IFAB football Laws of the Game documents