Playfield Atlas

Home Sports

Sport field guide

Soccer

Soccer field dimensions, markings and goal sizes, with every figure tied to the IFAB Law 1 or FIFA document it is taken from.

Governing body ,

Soccer is unusual among field sports: its rulebook does not give the field a size. Law 1 of the Laws of the Game, written by the IFAB, sets a range and lets each competition choose inside it. The number most people mean by a full-size pitch, 105 m x 68 m, comes from a different document and carries different weight. Everything drawn inside the rectangle is fixed to the centimeter and identical on every 11-a-side field.

Perspective diagram of a soccer pitch showing the length and width, the penalty and goal areas, the penalty spot and arc, the centre circle, and the goal at 24 feet wide by 8 feet high.
Soccer pitch drawn to scale from IFAB Law 1. Original diagram by Playfield Atlas.

Dimensions and layouts

Law 1.3 permits a touchline of 90 m to 120 m (100-130 yd) and a goal line of 45 m to 90 m (50-100 yd), with the touchline always longer than the goal line. Law 1.4 narrows that for international matches to 100-110 m by 64-75 m (110-120 yd by 70-80 yd). The familiar 105 m x 68 m (114.8 yd x 74.4 yd) is the FIFA Stadium Guidelines’ recommended field of play, and FIFA words it as a recommendation rather than a requirement, so it is published here as one.

The markings do not move with the pitch. The penalty area is 16.5 m (18 yd) deep and the goal area 5.5 m (6 yd) deep, both drawn outward from the inside of each goalpost rather than from the center of the goal. The penalty mark is 11 m (12 yd) from the goal line, and 9.15 m (10 yd) recurs three times: as the center circle radius, the penalty arc radius and the offset of the optional corner marks. Lines may be no wider than 12 cm (5 in), and because Law 1 says the lines belong to the areas they bound, every dimension is measured to the outside of the paint.

Two things are worth knowing before anyone marks a field. The penalty area and goal area widths, 40.32 m and 18.32 m, are not printed in Law 1 at all; they are the goal width plus the offset on each side. And Law 1’s metric and imperial columns are not exact conversions of each other, so a pitch marked in yards differs from one marked in meters by centimeters. The full table, with both columns compared figure by figure, is in the soccer field dimensions, markings and layout guide.

Equipment

The goal is 7.32 m (8 yd) wide and 2.44 m (8 ft) high under Law 1.10, and both figures come with a datum. The width is measured between the inside faces of the posts, and the height runs from the ground to the lower edge of the crossbar, not to its top or its center. Posts and crossbar must share the same width and depth, capped at 12 cm (5 in), which is also the maximum width of the goal lines they stand on.

Net depth is not in the Laws. Law 1 allows nets to be attached to the goals and the ground behind them and never states how far back they should hang; the only published figures are the FIFA Quality Programme minimums for certified goals, 0.8 m of top depth and 1.5 m at the bottom. Corner flagposts are required by Law 1.8 and must be at least 1.5 m (5 ft) high.

Clearance is a stadium question, not a Law 1 one. The IFAB gives no figure for the space around the field; FIFA recommends at least 1.5 m of level surface beyond each touchline and goal line, and more before the advertising boards.

Overhead plan

The same surface seen from straight above, drawn to scale. Nothing is foreshortened here, so every figure can be read off the drawing the way a tape measure would take it.

Overhead plan of a soccer pitch drawn to scale, showing the 105 by 68 metre field, the penalty and goal areas, the penalty marks and arcs, the centre circle, the corner arcs and the goals.
The same pitch from directly above. Every figure is the one IFAB Law 1 publishes.

Detail sheet

A rule book fixes more than the shape of the surface, and the rest of it is too small to draw at court scale: a mark a few centimetres long, a post standing a metre off the sideline, the clearance around the whole thing. Each one here has its own frame and its own scale.

Detail sheet for a soccer pitch: the penalty area 40.32 metres across and the goal area 18.32 metres across, the penalty arc struck from the penalty spot, the corner arc with the optional 9.15 metre mark, and the range of pitch sizes Law 1 permits.
The widths of the two areas, which the pitch drawing dimensions only in depth. Original diagram by Playfield Atlas.

Official sources

The marking figures come from the IFAB, which publishes the Laws of the Game. The field size, the run-off and the goal certification minimums come from FIFA. The guide cites these documents:

How each figure is checked, dated and marked official, recommended or derived is set out on the methodology page. If a number here looks wrong, report it through corrections.

Explore the playing surface

Soccer court guides and tools

Use the verified guides below for dimensions, markings, planning details, and the history behind the playing surface.