Midfield Circle.. What is its story and importance in football fields?

The legislators of football laws did not leave anything to chance on the path of developing it and making it the most popular sport in the world. Rather, they enacted, since its inception, many laws and rules, the most important and weight of which were the boundaries of the stadium or the lines of the playing field;

Because that was the basis of the first rule in the laws of football, which is called "field of play".

If the boundaries of the playing field or the longitude lines - which are also called the touch lines and the latitude lines, which are called the field lines - perform the function of determining the field of play and require the resumption of play with a throw-in, a goal kick or a corner kick when the ball crosses those four lines, then many of the enthusiasts The round witch does not know the function of the arcs and circles on the football field, especially the center circle of the field or the midfield disc, nor its dimensions.

Drawing that disk - which has a radius of 9.15 meters - in the middle of the field does not seem arbitrary or just because its surroundings penetrate the rectangular or square shapes of the football field, but it has several functions, perhaps foremost of which is facilitating the task of the referee in ensuring the commitment of the defending team players to keep a distance 9.15 meters when players from the other team take the kickoff, the start of the second half and extra quotas, or when play is resumed after goals have been scored.

The midfield circle - as its name implies - is located in the middle of the field, and is drawn from the center of the midfield, which is called the central point, and at the kickoff or when the player resumes, the laws of football impose that no player from the opposing team enters that circle until after touching the second player the ball, while the player or two players of the team that will resume play is allowed to stand in front of the ball at the center point.

The central circle of the stadium is a visual indicator for the referee to determine the position of the opponent's players and all of them are equal in moving a distance of not less than 9.15 meters from the ball.

But there are many who do not know that the midfield circle has another function, especially when executing penalty kicks in the match that is decided by those kicks;

The rules require that players except for the two goalkeepers line up on the perimeter or inside the midfield circle, and the player does not leave that circle until it is his turn to take a penalty kick.

It is noteworthy that when the first rules governing football appeared - approved by Cambridge University in 1846 - the London Agreement did not specify the dimensions of the stadium, the height of the goal, or the duration of the match, but over the years, football began to develop and take care of the dimensions of the stadium. Through a transverse line connecting the two touch lines straight, before that year the playing lines were revised and the midfield circle and penalty area arc were drawn up.