When is it handball in football?

It is a handball offence if a player:

• deliberately touches the ball with the hand or arm, for example by moving the hand or arm towards the ball;
• touches the ball with a hand or arm that made the body unnaturally bigger: a position not explained by the body's movement in that situation;
• scores directly from their hand or arm, even by accident, including a goalkeeper;
• scores immediately after the ball touched their hand or arm, even by accident.

Other points:

• The shoulder is not part of the arm. The boundary is level with the bottom of the armpit.
• Goalkeepers may handle the ball inside their own penalty area, with some limits. Outside it they follow the same rule as everyone else.
• The punishment is a direct free kick, or a penalty kick in the offender's own penalty area.
• A handball that stops a promising attack is a yellow card. One that denies an obvious goal-scoring opportunity is a red card, or a yellow if the referee gives a penalty for a handball that was not deliberate.

Football is played with the feet and body, and the hands would make defending and scoring too easy. The "unnaturally bigger" test punishes players who make themselves wider to block the ball.