Soccer fans in North America encounter many culture shocks when they travel abroad—to Europe, especially where the sport is believed to have originated.
From the name of the sport itself—soccer in North America, particularly the US and Canada, and football in most of the world—to the competition styles (relegation and promotion), everything seems so different from how it is played in the rest of the world.
Even the name of the playing surface is different!
While it is called a soccer field in North America, it is called a “football pitch” in the rest of the world. If you’re asking the question, “Why?”, this article has the answer you seek!
What is a Pitch in Soccer?
As you must have deduced from the opening section of this article, a pitch is the playing surface for the sport of soccer. It is just a difference in terminology that means the same thing with what you already know to be a soccer field.
As long as it has the same markings, is sized accurately, has two goal posts – one on either side – and is a grassy surface, calling it a pitch or a field is the same thing.
Why is it called a pitch and not a field in other parts of the world? Let’s find out!
Why is It Called a Pitch?
You’ll have to blame cricket for this. Weird, right?
Here’s a little bit of history for you: soccer was taken up by the Brits as a way to keep busy when the weather was too gloomy to play cricket, which was basically their national sport. Then soccer exploded and relegated cricket to the background.
The term “pitch” was used in cricket to mean putting cricket stumps in place on the fields they played on.
Because of the stumps, the surfaces they played on were also called pitches.
So when cricketers started playing soccer, they decided to play the sport on the same pitches they played cricket on, and that’s stayed the name of the sport’s playing surface in Britain and everywhere else to this day.
As for why it’s called a field in America, it’s because the game is played on a field of grass.
How Long Is A Soccer Pitch?
A soccer pitch is the second largest playing surface of any land sport in the world after a golf course.
For your field to qualify to be called a soccer pitch, though, the International Football Administration Board (IFAB) – the custodians of the Laws of the Game – says that it must be “rectangular and marked with continuous lines” and must be between “100-130 yards in length and anywhere from 50-100 yards in width”.
This is the length of pitches used for club soccer, though. International football has its own dimensions, which are 110-120 yards long (and 70 to 80 yards wide).
What Are The Different Types Of Lines On A Football Pitch?
Here are the different kinds of lines on a football pitch.
Sidelines or Touch Lines
The IFAB says a pitch must be “marked with continuous lines”. The sidelines/touchlines are the first of the most important lines with which a pitch must be marked.
Without sidelines, players can keep playing the ball in whatever direction they want as long as they aren’t near the goal of their opponents.
The sidelines/touchlines create a rectangular box which officially denotes the playing area for the game.
The touchlines are 100-130 yards long, and a throw-in is given if the ball crosses them.
Halfway Line
It’s in the name – the halfway line is the line drawn at the middle of the pitch to divide it into two halves.
Like every team sport, the two teams in a soccer game have to defend an area of the pitch.
The halfway line on a pitch denotes which area a team is supposed to defend at a particular time during the game.
It is the same length as the goal line (explained below).
Goal Line
The goal line is what stops the touchlines from extending forever. It is also the line on which the goalposts in either half – as demarcated by the halfway line – sit.
The essence of the goal line is to prevent players from trying plays from behind the goal, just like the sidelines prevent players from going in whatever direction they feel like to score.
The goal line basically creates a rectangular box with the sidelines where the players must compete. According to the IFAB, goal lines must be 50-100 yards long.
Center Circle
The center circle is the big circle drawn at the middle of the pitch. The halfway line is marked by a small dot called the center circle, which is the exact middle of the pitch.
That center circle serves as the starting point from where a circle with a diameter of 10 yards is drawn.
Outside the kickoff, the center circle has no other use. It is used to allow the team kicking off enough space to do their thing.
Penalty Box
This is where most goal actions in soccer happen. The penalty box is a box drawn at the top of each half from the goal line.
The goalpost sits in the middle of the penalty box, and the box extends 18 yards into the pitch, hence its other name, the “18-yard box”. Its full length is 44 yards by 18 yards.
Read more about the penalty box in this article.
Penalty Arc
Also called the “D”, it is a semi-circle drawn at the top of the penalty box for the sole purpose of keeping players out when a team is awarded a penalty kick.
Without this circle, players can cause problems for the penalty taker. It has the same measurements as the center circle, only that it is a semi-circle as stated earlier.
Outside of this use, it exists as a fancy marking because players and referees don’t pay it much attention.
Final Thoughts
You could fill a book with the differences between American and British English and you’ll make a bank. These differences are even more evident in soccer as we all now understand.
On a lighter note, though, what I cannot understand is why they stubbornly stuck to “pitch” and discarded “soccer” for football.
Whatever the reason, the fact is that they all mean the same thing, and the terminology shouldn’t stop anyone from experiencing this great sport that has united millions and fed millions more!
Please note that the descriptions and dimensions above are for a professional soccer field or pitch.
Youth soccer pitches have varying dimensions. For more information on youth soccer, read this article.
