The drop ball, explained: how play restarts when the referee stops it
The neutral restart used when the referee halts play for a reason no other restart covers — how the modern uncontested drop ball works, and why football scrapped the old contested version.
When a drop ball is used
A drop ball is the restart for situations that don't fit a throw-in, goal kick, corner or free kick. The referee uses it when they've stopped play for a reason outside the normal run of the game — a serious injury with no foul, the ball striking the referee and going to a team or into the goal, two offences happening at once, or outside interference. It's football's way of resuming from a genuinely neutral stoppage.
How the modern drop ball works
Under the current Laws, the ball is dropped to one player — not contested between two. It goes to a player of the team that last touched the ball, at the spot where it was last touched. If play was stopped inside the penalty area, it's dropped to the defending goalkeeper. Every other player, from both teams, must stay at least 4 metres (about 4.5 yards) away until the ball touches the ground and is back in play.
Why the contested version was scrapped
Football used to drop the ball between one player from each side, who would then challenge for it. That produced messy, sometimes dangerous 50-50 lunges — and awkward etiquette when a team that hadn't touched the ball ended up winning it. The 2019 law change replaced it with the uncontested drop to the last-touching team, restoring possession fairly and cutting out the needless scrap.
The sporting convention it replaced
The old rule also relied on an unwritten courtesy: after stopping play for an injury, teams would drop the ball and deliberately give it back to whichever side had it before. That gentleman's agreement occasionally broke down and caused controversy. The modern rule bakes the fairness into the Laws themselves — possession simply returns to the team that last had it, no honour system required.