Where can you hit in foil, and what happens if you hit somewhere else?
I · Intermediate · The weapons · 4 of 8Only the trunk: the front and back of the torso down to the groin, plus the lower part of the mask's bib. Arms, legs and head are off the target. A hit there does not score, but it does stop the exchange. Nothing that follows it counts.
How it works
- The target: "excludes the limbs and the head. It is confined to the trunk".
- Its limits: the collar at the top and the sleeve seams at the sides. At the bottom, a line across the hips at the back runs down to the groin at the front.
- The bib: the part beneath a line 1.5 to 2 centimetres below the chin is included.
- Only the point: "The foil is a thrusting weapon only."
- Off the target: a hit on any other part of the body "is not counted as a valid hit, but stops the fencing phrase and annuls any subsequent hit".
- Covering: it is forbidden to protect the target or substitute another part of the body for it. The penalty is from the first group, and a hit by the fencer at fault is annulled.
- Substitution rewarded to the other side: a hit that lands off target because the fencer substituted that part for the target is counted as valid.
- The conductive jacket: the referee checks before the bout that it covers the target when the fencer is on guard.
- Dragging the point: pushing or dragging the point along the piste during the bout is a first-group offence.
- Faulty equipment: the referee annuls a hit if tests before the restart show the apparatus could have signalled it wrongly.
The glossary has the foil, the valid target, the hit off the target entry, the lame, the electrical scoring apparatus and the fencing phrase.
Tricky cases
A foil attack lands on the arm, and the defender then hits the attacker on the chest. Who scores?
Nobody. The off-target hit stops the phrase and annuls any later hit.
A fencer ducks so that an attack aimed at the chest hits the mask. Is that off target?
It depends on the referee. If the fencer substituted a non-valid part for the target by an abnormal position, the hit counts as valid.
A fencer covers the chest with the unarmed arm and is hit on that arm. What happens?
A first-group penalty for the fencer who covered. If a correct hit registered as off target because of the covering, the hit is awarded.
Is the back part of the target?
Yes. The target is the trunk, front and back, down to the line of the hips.
Why the rule exists
The foil target is the part of the body where a thrust would be most dangerous, and limiting it there made foil the weapon for teaching accuracy. Letting an off-target hit stop the phrase keeps the convention honest: an attack that arrived on the arm still arrived first, so the opponent cannot score afterwards.
Where it differs
| Where | What changes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Foil | Off-target hits stop the phrase | FIE t.78 |
| Sabre | Off-target hits are not registered and do not stop the phrase | FIE t.98 |
| Épée | There is no off-target area on the body | FIE t.91 |
From the rule book
Fédération Internationale d'Escrime, Technical Rules (August 2026), articles t.64, t.76 to t.81. Checked 14 October 2026. Official document: FIE Technical Rules (PDF).