What is a Direct Free Kick in Soccer?

Soccer is the most popular sport in the world. Known as football in most countries of the world, soccer is a team sport consisting of two teams of eleven players each, one of which must be the goalie. The game has been played for centuries and can be dated back as far as 2nd and 3rd century B.C. China. In typical game play, players attempt to create goalscoring opportunities through individual control of the ball, such as by dribbling, passing the ball to a team-mate, and by taking shots at the goal, which is guarded by the opposing goalkeeper.

In this free video series, our expert Ron Weisberg will teach you how to take a direct free kick properly. He will talk about the wall, the upper 90, finesse shots, power shots, and shooting over the wall. He'll even tell you how to get near and far post spin for those real sweet goals.

"Now we're going to talk about direct free kicks. What makes a direct free kick is a foul, a pushing foul, or any kind of physical contact foul, or a handball. And basically what the referee is going to do: he's going to blow the whistle, run over to the spot, put his arm straight up, point his arm at the goal (that means direct, direct to the goal), and he's going to have the ball right there. And he's going to ask you if you want your 10 yards for the wall and then if you ask for the 10 yards, you have to wait for the whistle, and then you take the kick. Now what makes a direct kick, a direct kick, is the fact that all you need is one touch. So no one else needs to touch the ball when you kick it. It can just go straight into the goal. And that's what makes a direct kick, a direct free kick."