Face-off

A face-off is the method used to begin and restart play after goals in some sports using sticks, primarily ice hockey, bandy, floorball, broomball, rinkball, and lacrosse.

During a face-off, two teams line up in opposition to each other, and the opposing players attempt to gain control of the puck or ball after it is dropped or otherwise placed between their sticks by an official.

[1] One of the referees drops the puck at centre ice to start each period and following the scoring of a goal.

[2] Generally, the goal of the player taking the face-off is to draw the puck backward, toward teammates; however, they will, occasionally attempt to shoot the puck forward, past the other team, usually to kill time when shorthanded although shooting directly at the net is also possible—scoring a goal directly from a face-off, while rare, is not unheard of.

[8] Floorball is a type of floor hockey with five players and a goalkeeper in each team, it's played indoors with a tennis sized ball.

Rinkball, a sport combining bandy and ice hockey elements, also begins with a face-off.

[9] In the field lacrosse face-off, two players face each other at the X in the middle of the field, in a crouching position with the ball placed on the ground on the center line between the heads of their sticks, set four inches (10 cm) apart, parallel to the midline but the ends pointing in opposite directions.

Two other players from each team must wait behind wing lines,[9] 20 yards from the faceoff spot on opposite sides of the field until the whistle.

[10] Any player except the goalkeeper, due to the much larger head on his stick, can face off; in practice face-offs are usually taken by midfielders.

[10] Once possession is established, or the loose ball crosses either restraining line, the faceoff is considered to have ended and all players are allowed to leave their zones.

Players facing off who deliberately handle or touch the ball in an attempt to gain possession, or use their open hand to hold the opposing face-off player's stick, receive a three-minute unreleasable penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct in addition to possession being awarded to the other team.

The two players taking the draw stand at the center of the field, and hold their sticks together at waist level while the referee places the ball between the heads, which face each other.

A dropped-ball (if contested) is a method used in association football[14] whereby an official will drop the ball rather than releasing it into the air.

An event similar to a face-off has been attempted in at least two leagues of American football: the 2001 instance of the XFL instituted an "opening scramble", replacing the coin toss, in which one player from each team attempted to recover a loose football after a twenty-yard dash.

The team whose player recovered the ball got first choice of kicking, receiving, or defending one side of the field.

X-League Indoor Football nonetheless adopted a modified version opening scramble (using the name "X-Dash") when it began play in 2014, but tweaked to avoid the injuries so that each player chased after their own ball.

[15] The coin toss remains the method of choice for determining possession at the beginning of an American football game.