Side selection

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For various ball sports, the side is selected before the game begins . It is determined which party will play in which direction and which will start the game. In many sports, however - despite the opposite name - there is no election, but a draw. Examples of side-picking sports are: soccer , handball , tennis, and ice hockey .

Soccer

The choice of sides in football takes place before the game and is part of the greeting between referees and captains . Both teams and the team of referees consisting of a referee and two assistant referees line up in the middle of the field in a line parallel to the sidelines and greet the spectators by waving their hands (same after turning around). In games of lower class teams (hardly any spectators), both representatives face each other along the center line. Following this audience or team greeting, the captains are greeted (among themselves and with the team of referees), before the sides are selected.

When choosing sides, a coin toss is used to decide in which half of the game the teams start and who has kick-off. Usually the referee lets the away team captain decide for heads or tails or for one of the two colors of the coin. Then the referee tosses the coin. The successful team informs the referee in which half of the game they will play until half-time. The other team takes the kick-off at the beginning of the game. Until a rule change in the summer of 1997, the winning captain was able to choose between side selection and kickoff. If he chose kick-off for his team, the option of choosing sides was passed to the opposing captain.

After the election of the sides, the teams line up to kick off . In the case of official international matches, the greeting follows a special ceremony ( national anthems, etc.) before choosing a side .

The football rules also provide for a choice of sides before extra time and penalty shoot-outs . The selection of sides before the extension is the same as the selection of sides before a game. Before a penalty shoot-out, the captains - in contrast to previous provisions - no longer have the opportunity to influence the choice of goal. The referee decides himself whether he determines the goal himself or lets the lot decide for reasons of security or the playability of the field. Then a coin toss is used to decide which team will start the penalty shoot-out. The captain who wins the coin toss can choose whether his team shoots first or provides the goalkeeper. Usually victorious captains choose the first shot - and for good reason: Statisticians have determined that the team to shoot first goes off the field as the winner in around 60 percent of cases.

Handball

Side selection in a handball game. The coin tossed by the referee is on the ground.

In handball, the sides (side selection) are usually drawn by tossing a coin . As a rule, a player on the visiting team may choose one side of the coin before the toss. One of the two referees tosses the coin . The team that wins the coin toss may choose between side or face-off. If she chooses the face-off, the opposing team may choose the side. If, on the other hand, she chooses the side, the opponent gets the face-off.

Until the rule change on August 1, 2005, the choice of sides was made by the captain ("team captain"). With the change to this rule, every player or official of a team can now participate in the side selection. The teams and referees are often greeted together with the choice of sides, as well as the exchange of pennants on special occasions (see photo). To ensure that the game starts on time, many referees select sides up to 30 minutes before the game starts.

badminton

In badminton , the sides are usually drawn by the referee by tossing a coin . The guest player can usually choose one side of the coin. The winner of the coin toss may choose either serve or return (Rule 6.1.1) or one side of the field (Rule 6.1.2). The opponent may make the remaining choice. In the lower classes without a referee, the choice is usually made by the players involved. A shuttlecock is placed with the feathers down on the edge of the net and dropped. The winner is the player whose field side the cork of the ball points to. If a shuttlecock remains on the springs with the cork facing the ceiling, the choice is repeated.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www.dfb.de 7./8. Rule: Playing time and kick-off , accessed on June 28, 2014
  2. ↑ PDF: Fifa rules 2017/2018, rule 10, p. 91 , accessed on November 25, 2017
  3. ↑ WDR Wissen: Order of penalties , accessed on November 25, 2017.
  4. ↑ dhb.de International handball rules with the DHB additional provisions, rule 10: 1 (as of July 1, 2013) (PDF, 919 kB), accessed on June 28, 2014
  5. ↑ www.bwfbadminton.org Laws of Badminton (PDF, 7.0 MB; English) accessed on June 28, 2014