Kick-in

It involves a defender from the team who did not score kicking the ball back into play from the defensive goal square.

No defending players are allowed within the protected zone, which extends fifteen metres beyond the top of the goal square (the kick-off line) and 6.4m to either side, which is the width between the behind posts).

Resembling the process for restarting play in many English school football codes, the original law stated: The rules governing kick-ins have changed several times through the game's history: Until the 1970s, conventional wisdom was to have one of the team's longest kickers kick the ball into play as far as possible so that, in the event of a turnover, the opposition would need at least two kicks to score a goal.

[12] The 1970s saw players defending the kick-in frequently punch the long kick back towards their crumbing forwards who would be close enough to score; and this began to change tactics, as teams began to favour making a safe, accurate short pass to a team-mate from the kick-in, followed by a long kick to put extra distance between the ball and the goal.

[12] Through the 2000s, the development of defensive zone tactics designed to prevent opponents from freely rebounding the football made kick-ins increasingly difficult to execute well.