Sports Wiki
Evergreen explainers on the rules, tactics, records and numbers behind football and basketball — built to be read long after the final whistle.
- Rules25 Aug 2026
Goaltending and basket interference, explained
Why you cannot swat a ball on its way down, what the imaginary cylinder is, and how the two violations differ — for both defenders and attackers.
- Rules25 Aug 2026
Goalkeeper rules, explained: the back-pass, the 6-second rule and handling
Where and when a keeper can use their hands — including the deliberate back-pass rule that changed football, and the limits on holding the ball.
- Rules25 Aug 2026
Fouls vs violations: the two kinds of basketball infraction, explained
Basketball breaks into two families of rule-breaking — one about contact and conduct, one about ball-handling and time — and they are punished very differently.
- Rules25 Aug 2026
Extra time and away goals, explained
The two 15-minute halves that follow a draw, why golden goal was scrapped, and why UEFA abolished the famous away-goals rule.
- Rules25 Aug 2026
How VAR works: the four reviews and the “clear and obvious” bar
The only four situations VAR can check, why the bar is “clear and obvious error”, and how the on-field review works — the referee, not the VAR, still decides.
- Rules25 Aug 2026
Traveling in basketball: the pivot foot, the gather and the two-step rule
Why “two steps” is not automatically a travel, what the pivot foot can and cannot do, and how the gather step works — with the NBA-vs-FIBA nuance kept simple.
- Rules25 Aug 2026
Stoppage time, explained: how added minutes are actually decided
What counts toward added time, who decides it, why the “minimum” board can be exceeded, and why recent seasons have seen so much more of it.
- Rules25 Aug 2026
The shot clock and time violations: 24, 14, 8, 5 and 3 seconds
The 24-second shot clock and its 14-second reset, plus the backcourt, three-second, five-second and over-and-back violations that keep the game moving.
- Rules25 Aug 2026
The offside rule, explained: when a player is (and isn’t) offside
Offside in one sentence, the conditions that must all be true, and the situations where you are never offside — with the active-vs-passive distinction that trips people up.
- Rules25 Aug 2026
The handball rule, explained: when a handball is (and isn’t) a foul
Deliberate handball, the “unnaturally bigger” body test, and the special rule for goals scored off an arm — plus the accidental touches that are not punished.
- Rules25 Aug 2026
Fouls, yellow and red cards: what gets you booked and what gets you sent off
Direct vs indirect free kicks, the offences that earn a yellow, the ways to see red — including DOGSO and the second yellow.
- Rules25 Aug 2026
Charging vs blocking: basketball’s hardest call, explained
Legal guarding position, the restricted area, and why the same collision can be an offensive or a defensive foul depending on who got there first.
- Rules25 Aug 2026
Basketball fouls and free throws: personal, technical, flagrant and the bonus
How shooting fouls become free throws, when the team bonus kicks in, what technical and flagrant fouls are, and how many fouls foul you out.
- Rules25 Aug 2026
The advantage rule: why the referee sometimes waves play on after a foul
What “playing the advantage” means, how the referee signals it, the few seconds’ window to pull it back, and why a card can still come later.