Little-known football rules after Eberechi Eze’s free-kick was ruled out

A little-known rule proved to be Crystal Palace midfielder Eberechi Eze’s undoing on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.

His free-kick was ruled out because a Palace player was standing too close to the Chelsea wall.

The rule, which was introduced to the laws of the game in 2019-20, surprised many – but was ultimately the correct decision.

But what other obscure laws are there in football?

Iliman Ndiaye might hold the accolade for the strangest booking in Premier League history after imitating a seagull, but did you know this rule?

A player can be cautioned for excessively celebrating a goal which includes covering their head or their face with a mask under International Football Association Board’s (Ifab) Law 12.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is among those to have fallen foul of this niche section of the lawbook when he was cautioned for putting on a Black Panther mask after scoring against Rennes in the Europa League in 2019.

Players who take off their shirt, jump on to a fence or boarding, enter the crowd, mock their opponents or cover their face will also be cautioned.

Clubs in the English Football League (EFL) voted to ban players from using towels to dry the ball before taking a throw-in.

They instead decided to bring in the multiball system that we see in the Premier League.

Wycombe’s Luke Leahy did not get the memo in 2024 when he was cautioned for drying a ball on a steward’s jacket.

The rule also prevents players from using items of clothing offered by fans, like when a Rotherham United supporter gave defender Wes Harding his jumper to wipe the ball before a throw-in in 2023.

It is common knowledge that footballers cannot score directly from an indirect free-kick.

But what would happen in the unusual event that a player kicked the ball into their own net from a free-kick?

Fortunately for the offending team, it would not count as a goal.

Law 13 states that if a direct or indirect free-kick is kicked directly into the team’s own goal, a corner kick is awarded.

You also cannot score directly from a thrown-in, not that Aston Villa’s Peter Enckelman knew in 2002.

The goalkeeper accidentally miscontrolled a throw-in from team-mate Olof Mellberg to inadvertently score an own goal.

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