Soccer Explained

A guide to how qualifying, the group stage, the knockout bracket, and discipline rules work this time around

A glossary of the stats and vocabulary you’ll hear during soccer broadcasts

Everything you need to know about how soccer punishes rule-breakers and the people calling fouls

A casual fan’s guide to the basic rules of soccer, from handballs and offside to unfair challenges, substitutions, time wasting, dissent, technical areas, and offensive speech

The basics of gameplay, the clock, stoppage time, extra time, and penalty shootouts

Keepers, Defenders, midfielders, and forwards, plus the numbering system commentators use and how formations work