A football pitch looks simple: a green rectangle with white lines. But every one of those lines has a job, and once you know them the game is far easier to read. Here is the whole pitch, marking by marking.
The rectangle and the halfway line
The outer lines are the boundary. The ball is only out of play when the whole ball has crossed the whole line — sitting on the line still counts as in. The long lines are the touchlines; the short ones behind each goal are the goal lines.
The halfway line splits the pitch into two equal halves. At kick-off, every player must be in their own half, and the team not kicking off must stand outside the centre circle.
The centre circle and centre spot
Every kick-off — at the start, after half-time and after a goal — is taken from the centre spot in the middle of the circle. The circle marks a 9.15-metre ring around the spot, and opponents must stay outside it until the ball is played.
The penalty area — the big box
The big box in front of each goal is the penalty area. It reaches 16.5 metres out from the goal line — eighteen yards in the old imperial measure, which is why you'll still hear it called the eighteen-yard box. Two things make it special: the goalkeeper may use their hands anywhere inside it, and a foul by the defending team inside it usually means a penalty.
The goal area — the small box
Inside the big box sits a smaller one: the goal area, which reaches 5.5 metres out from the goal line (six yards in the old measure — hence its nickname, the six-yard box). Goal kicks are taken from inside it, and it marks the little patch of ground the keeper protects most closely.
The penalty spot and the D
The penalty spot is eleven metres straight out from the middle of the goal. A penalty is taken from there, with only the goalkeeper to beat. The curved line on the edge of the box — the arc, or 'the D' — is there for penalties too: it keeps every other player 9.15 metres from the ball until it is kicked.
Corner arcs and the goals
The quarter-circle in each corner is where a corner kick is placed. And at each end stands a goal — two posts and a crossbar. There is one at each end of the pitch, so two goals in all.