Football Field Size

In our life as a man, we have seen a lot of football games. Player’s arrangement, each club’s strategy, strength of the players, but how many of us aware of the field’s dimension? Is it something that we should be aware of or not?

According to Law of the Game, the touch lines must be between 90 metres-120 metres while the goal line must be shorter than the touch lines, which is between 45 meters to 90 meters. The exact guidelines can be seen in the diagram below.

No matter how many football size we have seen in our life, I believe our ultimate indicator is the one approved for Fifa World Cup Final Match which is 105 meters long and 68 meters wide. Which is of course we can’t see in every field as they are different from one and another. For example, the famous Old Trafford Stadium is 106 m x 70 m while Stamford Bridge Stadium is 105m x 68m. So you see, Stamford Bridge’s size is exactly followed what FIFA standard. And this will of course benefit the Chelsea player who plays for the World Cup game if the team managed to to go to the final stage.

And this is where the rules come in when there is a home game. Due to the different football size, let say if there is a game between Manchester United vs Chelsea in Old Trafford, of course Manchester United team is foresee to win the game because the field is theirs. Of course Chelsea team would need 10 steps extra because Old Trafford is bigger than Stamford Bridge. That is why if the game is draw, let’s say 2-2, the winner would be Chelsea.

Same goes to our previous Semi Final FA Cup between Kelantan and Kedah. Both of them draw with 1-1 at Stadium Muhammad Ke-4 Kelantan. And draw again in Stadium Darul Aman with 2-2. But Kelantan made it to Final, why? In Malaysia, the field dimension approved by Majlis Sukan Negara is 119 meters long and 100 meters wide which means all football field in Malaysia are not supposed to exceed the dimensions approved. Stadium Muhammad ke-4 is equal to MSN approval size while Stadium Darul Aman is 120m x 70m. With that, Kelantan went to final because they won at opponent’s stadium.

Some of us might be wondering, why, FINAL match must be in Stadium Putra Bukit Jalil? Take note that Stadium Putra Bukit Jalil’s size is exactly like FIFA World Cup size which is 105m x 68m.  So, with the nice and the right international stadium size, I believe one day Malaysia can make it to World Cup, who knows right?