Sports Wiki
Evergreen explainers on the rules, tactics, records and numbers behind football and basketball — built to be read long after the final whistle.
- Rules4 Sept 2026
Yellow card accumulation and suspensions explained
How two yellows become a red, how yellow cards add up across matches to trigger a ban, why thresholds vary, and how suspensions from red cards work.
- Rules4 Sept 2026
The coach's challenge explained
What the coach's challenge lets a team do, which calls can be reviewed, how a challenge is triggered, and why the number of challenges is limited.
- Rules4 Sept 2026
Overtime in basketball explained
What happens when a basketball game is tied, how overtime periods work, why fouls and the clock carry over, and how repeated overtimes are handled.
- Rules4 Sept 2026
Out of bounds and possession explained
When the ball is out of bounds in basketball, why touching the line counts as out, how possession is decided, and what happens on a shared touch.
- Rules4 Sept 2026
Goal-line technology explained
What goal-line technology does, the problem it was created to solve, how it differs from VAR, and why it gives an instant, final answer.
- Rules4 Sept 2026
Direct and indirect free kicks explained
The difference between a direct and an indirect free kick, which offences produce each, how the referee signals them, and the rules that govern taking them.
- Rules4 Sept 2026
The clear path foul explained
What a clear path foul is, the fast-break situation it applies to, why it is punished more harshly, and how it changes the way defenders behave in transition.
- Rules4 Sept 2026
Ball in and out of play explained
When the ball is in or out of play, why the whole ball must cross the whole line, what happens off the posts and officials, and how play restarts.
- Rules26 Aug 2026
Technical and flagrant fouls, explained: the two most serious calls
Beyond ordinary personal fouls sit technicals and flagrants — one for conduct, one for dangerous contact. What triggers each, how they're punished, and how they get you ejected.
- Rules26 Aug 2026
Team fouls and the bonus, explained: why fouls start giving free throws
Why late in a quarter even a small foul sends a player to the line — how team fouls accumulate, what "the bonus" or "penalty" means, and how it shapes the endgame.
- Rules26 Aug 2026
Penalty kick rules, explained: the spot, the keeper's line and encroachment
How a penalty is actually taken — where everyone must stand, what the goalkeeper can and can't do, the rules on feinting, and when a penalty gets retaken.
- Rules26 Aug 2026
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.
- Rules26 Aug 2026
Double dribble and carrying, explained: the rules that govern the dribble
Two of basketball's most common violations — dribbling twice and carrying the ball — what each one is, why they're illegal, and where the line falls on a modern crossover.
- Rules26 Aug 2026
Defensive three seconds, explained: why a defender can't camp in the paint
The NBA rule that stops a defender parking under the basket — what counts as guarding, why the league added it, and how it differs from the offensive three-second rule.
- Rules26 Aug 2026
Backcourt and 8-second violations, explained: keeping the ball moving forward
Two rules that force the offence up the floor and stop it retreating — the 8-second clock to cross halfway, and the over-and-back rule that bars a return to your own half.
- Rules26 Aug 2026
The back-pass rule, explained: why keepers can't pick up a pass from a teammate
The 1992 law that stopped goalkeepers handling deliberate passes from their own players — why it was introduced, exactly what's banned, and how it changed the way keepers play.
- Rules25 Aug 2026
Throw-in, goal kick and corner: the restart rules, explained
What decides each way of restarting play when the ball goes out, the “foul throw” that catches players out, and the modern goal-kick change.
- Rules25 Aug 2026
Substitution rules, explained: five subs, three windows and concussion subs
How many changes a team gets, why they must be made in limited windows, and the extra rules for head injuries — with the detail that varies by competition.
- Rules25 Aug 2026
Penalty shootout rules, explained: how a tie is finally settled
Five kicks each, then sudden death — plus who can take them, where the goalkeeper must stand, and the ABBA experiment that was tried and dropped.
- Rules25 Aug 2026
Jump ball and the possession arrow, explained
How a game starts, what happens when two players tie up the ball, and why some leagues use a jump ball while others use an alternating arrow.