Most football supporters have a working knowledge of the game's core rules.
Offside, handball, the purpose of a yellow card: these are the fundamentals that shape every match. But the Laws of the Game contain a number of provisions that rarely see the light of day, either because the situations that trigger them occur only occasionally, or because the scenarios they address are so unusual that most people never knew they were covered.
Here are six of the most interesting…
Players Can Ask for a Toilet Break
This rule exists, is entirely legitimate, and has been used at professional level. A player can request permission from the referee to leave the pitch temporarily for a bathroom visit, and providing the timing is not disruptive to play, that permission can be granted.
The rule is relevant partly because of an incident that demonstrated what happens when it is not invoked. At the 1990 World Cup, Gary Lineker experienced a stomach problem during England's match against Ireland and, having decided the match was too important to miss due to illness the previous evening, said nothing. The consequences were visible to everyone watching and have been referenced in correspondence sent to Lineker by supporters on a more or less annual basis ever since. He is reportedly well stocked with toilet paper.
Eric Dier made use of the actual rule during a Carabao Cup tie between Tottenham and Chelsea in 2020. Jose Mourinho, then Spurs manager, pursued him toward the tunnel to encourage urgency. Whether that intervention had any practical effect is unclear, but Dier collected the Man of the Match award when the match concluded.
You Cannot Score an Own Goal Directly from a Corner
Scoring directly from a corner kick is one of football's rarer achievements, known as an Olimpico goal in recognition of the competition in which the feat was first officially recorded. It requires precise technique and a degree of fortune:
- David Beckham did it for LA Galaxy against Chicago Fire in 2007
- Megan Rapinoe scored an Olimpico at the 2012 Olympics
- Neymar scored a corner goal for Santos in February 2025
What has not happened, at least not at professional level, is a player accidentally curling a corner directly into their own net. The laws of the game cover this scenario regardless. If a corner kick were to travel straight into the kicker's own goal without touching any other player, the goal would not be awarded. A corner would instead be given to the opposing team.
The rule exists to prevent an almost entirely theoretical injustice, but its existence means the game is prepared for it.
Offside Does Not Apply to Throw-ins
The offside rule prevents attacking players from receiving the ball while positioned closer to the opposition goal line than the second-to-last defender. It applies to passes, crosses, and most other methods of delivering the ball. It does not apply when the ball is delivered by a throw-in.
This exception has practical consequences in professional football. A player can position themselves in a location that would ordinarily constitute an offside position, receive a throw-in legally, and play from there. The attacking side is free to occupy the penalty area in anticipation of the throw without any risk of the assistant referee's flag being raised.
The rule was arguably exploited most effectively by Stoke City's Rory Delap during his peak years. A former javelin thrower in school, Delap generated throws approaching 40 miles per hour that could reach the penalty area from deep positions on the flank. His teammates were free to position themselves wherever they chose inside the box while awaiting delivery, which made the throw-in a genuine attacking weapon rather than simply a restart.
A Goalkeeper Cannot Score with Their Hands
Goalkeepers are the only players permitted to handle the ball during open play, within their penalty area. That privilege does not, however, extend to scoring goals. A goal cannot be scored by hand, and this applies to goalkeepers throwing the ball into the opposition net just as it applies to outfield players.
In practice, this rule has never been enforced because the physical scenario it addresses is essentially impossible. The maximum distance a goalkeeper can throw a ball is considerably shorter than the length of a football pitch. The Guinness World Record for the farthest throw by a goalkeeper, set by Iran's Alireza Beiranvand in 2016, stands at approximately 67 yards. A standard pitch is between 100 and 130 yards long.
Goalkeepers can, however, score own goals with their hands, and this has occurred at professional level. Grenoble's Brice Maubleu managed it in French Ligue 2 during the 2019-20 season, throwing the ball into his own net as a result of the physical recoil generated by the force of the throw.
Worth noting: if a goalkeeper accidentally throws the ball into their own net directly from a restart rather than during open play, it is not recorded as an own goal. A corner is awarded to the opposing team instead.
A Goalkeeper Can Score from a Goal Kick
While a goalkeeper cannot score with their hands, they can score from a goal kick with their feet, and that goal counts. The rule is clear, the precedents are real, and the distances involved are genuinely remarkable.
Tom King's goal for Newport County against Cheltenham Town in 2021, officially confirmed as the longest goal in professional football history by Guinness World Records, measured 105 yards and was scored from a goal kick. Asmir Begovic scored for Stoke against Southampton in 2013 from a distance of just over 100 yards, a record that stood until King surpassed it and which remains the longest goal in Premier League history.
The corresponding rule in the other direction is also worth noting: a goalkeeper cannot score an own goal from a goal kick. If a goal kick were somehow to travel into the goalkeeper's own net, a corner would be awarded to the opposing team. This scenario has yet to occur in professional football.
Free Kicks Can Be Taken Without the Referee's Signal
Not every free kick requires a whistle before play resumes. Whether a free kick can be taken quickly without waiting for a signal depends on whether it has been designated a ceremonial restart.
A free kick becomes ceremonial when the referee has begun a disciplinary process: reaching for a card, calling a player over, or actively managing the situation. In those circumstances, play cannot resume until the referee signals. In other situations, the attacking team may take the kick immediately, without waiting, and any goal scored is valid.
Lionel Messi discovered the limits of this rule during a 2025 MLS match for Inter Miami against LAFC. He scored from a quick free kick, but the goal was disallowed because the referee had already initiated a disciplinary process against the player who had committed the foul.
The tactic itself is well established. Messi used it successfully on multiple occasions during his Barcelona career. Cristiano Ronaldo, Francesco Totti, and Nacho Fernandez have all done the same. The key is reading whether the referee has moved into a disciplinary procedure before playing the ball.
The Coin Toss as a Tiebreaker
This one has been largely consigned to history, but it existed, it was used, and its most consequential application changed the outcome of a major international tournament.
At the 1968 European Championship, Italy and the Soviet Union drew 0-0 in the semi-final after ninety minutes. Extra time was not scheduled. Instead, a coin was tossed to determine which side would progress. Italy won the toss, advanced to the final, and were crowned European champions.
The rule was subsequently abolished in football. Penalty shootouts, for all their cruelty, at least give both teams an opportunity to influence the outcome through skill and performance rather than leaving it entirely to chance.
The coin toss tiebreaker survives in American football, where it remains a final resort in the NFL and CFL when teams are level on all other playoff qualification criteria.
Why Unusual Rules Matter
The rules gathered here are rarely invoked, and several of them may never produce a meaningful incident during the course of a professional career. They exist because the game's lawmakers recognised that football is unpredictable enough to produce almost any scenario eventually, and that having no rule in place when an unusual situation arises is worse than having one that rarely applies.
The toilet break rule means no player needs to follow Gary Lineker's example. The corner kick own goal provision means no team can be accidentally punished for a defender's misfortune. The quick free kick rule rewards tactical awareness in the attacking team. Each of them serves a purpose, even if that purpose is exercised infrequently.
Football's rulebook is not just a guide to common situations. It is a contingency plan for the uncommon ones.