Referee's Guide to Basketball England FIBA Rules All Ages 2026/27

A disruptive foul (FIBA Article 37, new in 2026) is illegal contact that isn't serious enough to be flagrant but disrupts the flow of the game and puts the opponent at a disadvantage. It replaces part of the old unsportsmanlike foul. The criteria are:

1. Stopping a transition: unnecessary contact by a defender, not legitimately trying to play the ball directly, to stop the offence's progress in transition (until the attacker starts the act of shooting).
2. Stopping the clock late: unnecessary contact by a defender anywhere on the court, not legitimately trying to play the ball directly, to stop the game clock or shot clock at the end of a quarter or overtime.
3. Clear path from behind or the side: illegal contact from behind or laterally on an opponent heading for the basket with no opponents between them and the basket, while they have the ball, are trying to gain it, or a pass to them has been released (until the act of shooting starts).

Penalty

• Charged to the offender as a player foul and a team foul (scoresheet "DI"). It does not count towards game disqualification.
• Free throws: 2 if not shooting; basket counts plus 1 if shooting and it goes in; 2 or 3 if shooting and it misses.
• Then a throw-in from the throw-in line in the team's frontcourt, opposite the scorer's table.

A flagrant foul (FIBA Article 38, new in 2026) is illegal contact that violates the spirit of sportsmanship and fair play and, by its nature or severity, goes beyond a personal or disruptive foul. The criteria are:

• not a legitimate basketball play against an opponent, with or without the ball;
• a reckless, violent or dangerous act that causes or may cause injury;
• excessive, hard contact in an effort to play the ball or an opponent.

Judge only the action, consistently throughout the game.

Penalty

• Charged to the offender as a player foul and a team foul (scoresheet "FL", circled because it counts towards disqualification).
• Free throws to the fouled player: 2 if not shooting; basket counts plus 1 if shooting and it goes in; 2 or 3 if shooting and it misses.
• Then a throw-in from the throw-in line in the team's frontcourt, opposite the scorer's table (or a jump ball if at the start of the 1st quarter).

Disqualification: two flagrant fouls, or one flagrant plus one category 1 technical, means game disqualification. Only that foul is penalised; there's no extra penalty for the disqualification.

From 2026, FIBA splits technical fouls into two categories (Article 36). Only category 1 counts towards game disqualification.

Category 1 (behavioural, non-contact or contact), for example:

• Disrespectfully dealing or communicating with referees, the commissioner, table officials, opponents or bench personnel.
• Language or gestures likely to offend or incite spectators.
• Baiting, taunting or provoking an opponent (including contact that isn't flagrant or disqualifying).
• Waving or placing hands near an opponent's eyes.
• Excessive swinging of elbows without contact.
• Faking being fouled.

Any bench technical for disrespect, touching officials or opponents, or a procedural or administrative infraction is also category 1.

Category 2 (behavioural or administrative, non-contact), for example:

• Delaying the game (touching the ball after a basket, preventing a prompt throw-in or free throw, coming on court late to start the game or second half).
• Hanging on the ring, unless briefly after a dunk or to avoid injury.
• Goaltending by a defender on the last free throw (1 point awarded, then the technical penalty).

Penalty (either category): 1 free throw to the opponents, taken immediately. Play then restarts with the team that had or was entitled to the ball, from where play stopped. A player's technical counts as a player foul and a team foul; a bench category 1 technical is charged to the head coach and isn't a team foul.

Scoresheet: player technicals are "T" (category 1 is circled, as it counts towards disqualification); head coach "C"; bench "B".

Players

• 5 fouls: the player must leave the game straight away (any foul charged as a player foul counts, including disruptive and technical fouls). A player-coach with 5 fouls can carry on as head coach.
• Game disqualification: two flagrant fouls, two category 1 technical fouls, or one of each. The timer raises the game disqualification (GD) marker. Only the last foul is penalised; there's no extra penalty for the disqualification.
• Disqualifying foul: any flagrant unsportsmanlike action, including flagrant aggression towards opponents or referees. The crew chief reports it to the competition organiser.

Head coach

• Two category 1 technicals ("C") for their own behaviour, or
• Three category 1 technicals made up of "B"/"BD" (bench behaviour) or including one "C".

Fighting: substitutes, excluded players and accompanying delegation members who leave the team bench area during a fight (or a situation that may lead to one) are disqualified. Only the head coach and first assistant may leave, to help restore order. One "B" technical is charged to the head coach however many are disqualified.

Anyone disqualified must leave within 30 seconds and go to the dressing room or leave the building. In the Junior NBL, a licensed coach or bench person must accompany a disqualified junior out of the hall.

Under FIBA Article 42, a team is in the team foul penalty once it has committed 4 team fouls in a quarter.

• Team fouls are personal, technical, disruptive, flagrant or disqualifying fouls committed by a player. (A category 1 technical charged to the head coach for bench behaviour does not count as a team foul.)
• Fouls in an interval count towards the next quarter or overtime. Fouls in overtime count as 4th-quarter fouls.

Once in the penalty: every further personal foul by that team on a player not in the act of shooting is penalised with 2 free throws for the fouled player instead of a throw-in.

Exception: a personal foul by a player of the team in control of the ball (or entitled to it) is still penalised with a throw-in to the opponents.

FIBA's 2026 rules (Article 15) define it separately for different shots:

Jump shots and other moving shots

• Starts when the player begins to move the shoulders and the ball upwards towards the opponents' basket.

Drives to the basket (typically starting between the 3-point line and the basket)

• Starts when the player has gathered the ball (it comes to rest in the hands after a dribble or a catch in the air) and continues the shooting motion.

For both, the rule says the act of shooting "ends when the ball has left the player's hand(s), or if an entirely new act of shooting is made and, in case of an airborne shooter, both feet have returned to the floor."

Must be in the frontcourt. A player in the backcourt is not in the act of shooting, except on the last action before the game clock expires at the end of a quarter or overtime, or before the shot clock expires. In those cases the act of shooting starts when the player has gathered the ball.

No longer shooting if, after being fouled, the player passes the ball off. On jump or moving shots, the same applies if the ball moves upwards away from the basket or the player isn't facing the basket as it moves up.

A shooter whose arms are held can still be in the act of shooting even if the ball never leaves their hands. The number of legal steps taken has no bearing on it.

Under FIBA Article 25:

Catching while standing with both feet on the floor

• When one foot lifts, the other becomes the pivot foot.
• To start a dribble, the pivot foot can't lift before the ball leaves the hand.
• To pass or shoot, the player may jump off the pivot foot, but neither foot may land before the ball is released.

Catching while moving, or finishing a dribble

• The player may take two steps to stop, pass or shoot.
• To start a dribble, the ball must be released before the second step.
• The first step is when one or both feet touch the floor after gaining control; the second is when the other foot (or both feet together) then touches.
• Stop on the first step with both feet down: either foot can be the pivot.
• Land on one foot: only that foot can pivot.
• Jump off one foot on the first step and land on both for the second: no pivot is allowed, and once a foot leaves the floor the ball must be released before it lands.
• A player may not touch the floor twice in a row with the same foot (or both feet) after ending the dribble or gaining control.

On the floor: falling and sliding while holding the ball, or gaining control while lying or sitting, is legal. Rolling or trying to stand up while holding it is travelling.

Note that the number of legal steps has no bearing on whether a player is in the act of shooting.

3 seconds (Article 26). A player may not stay in the opponents' restricted area for more than 3 consecutive seconds while their team controls a live ball in the frontcourt and the game clock is running. Allow for a player who:

• is trying to leave the restricted area;
• is in it while they or a team-mate is shooting and the ball is leaving or has just left the hand; or
• dribbles in to shoot after being there for less than 3 seconds.

To be "out", both feet must be on the court outside the restricted area.

5 seconds (Article 27). A player holding a live ball who is closely guarded (an opponent in an active, legal guarding position no more than 1 m away) must pass, shoot or dribble within 5 seconds.

8 seconds (Article 28). When a team gains control in its backcourt (or, on a backcourt throw-in, the ball touches a player there and the team keeps control), it must get the ball into its frontcourt within 8 seconds. The count continues with the time left if the same team gets a backcourt throw-in after an out-of-bounds, an injury to one of its players, a technical foul by that team, a jump ball situation, a double foul or cancelled equal penalties.

Each is a violation: the ball goes to the opponents for a throw-in from the nearest place, not directly behind the backboard.

A team that gains control of a live ball on the court must shoot within 24 seconds. To count, the ball must leave the shooter's hands before the signal and then touch the ring or go in (FIBA Article 29).

Signal sounds with the ball in the air: basket counts; ball touches the ring, play on; ball misses the ring, violation, unless the opponents gain immediate, clear control.

Game stopped for a foul or violation by the defence (not out-of-bounds), or a reason caused by the defence or by neither team; same team keeps the ball:

• Throw-in in the backcourt: reset to 24.
• Throw-in in the frontcourt: 14 or more showing, it carries on; 13 or less, reset to 14.
• If the stoppage is for a reason not connected with either team, or a reset would disadvantage the opponents, the clock carries on.

Ball awarded to the other team (foul or violation by the team in control, including out-of-bounds, or alternating possession to the new offensive team): 24 in their backcourt, 14 in their frontcourt.

Technical foul by the team in control: throw-in nearest where play stopped, and the shot clock carries on (no reset).

At the start of each quarter or overtime the shot clock starts at 24 when a player gains control.

A team in control of a live ball in its frontcourt may not cause the ball to go illegally back to its backcourt (FIBA Article 30).

A team is in control in its frontcourt when a player is touching the frontcourt with both feet while holding, catching or dribbling the ball there, or when the ball is passed between team-mates in the frontcourt.

It's a violation if a player of that team is last to touch the ball in the frontcourt and a player of the same team is first to touch it:

• while having any part of the body touching the backcourt, or
• after the ball has touched that team's backcourt.

This applies in all frontcourt situations, including throw-ins. Exception: a player who jumps from the frontcourt, gains new team control while in the air and lands with the ball in the backcourt has not committed a violation.

Penalty: a throw-in to the opponents in their frontcourt, from the place nearest the infraction (not directly behind the backboard).

There is also a separate 3x3 refereeing course. Experience at Level 4 and in the British professional leagues can lead to a FIBA licence; current FIBA licences expire on 31 August 2027.

To referee any game

• A Basketball England referee licence, bought before you referee any game (including Level 2 assessment games), plus Basketball England membership.
• Over 16: a DBS check and a safeguarding self-declaration. Over 18: a safeguarding qualification as well.
• For National League (NBL) games, officials working with children need a clear enhanced DBS check valid for three years and Basketball England safeguarding training, and must show proof of the right to work in the UK when applying for a licence.

For NBL1, WNBL1, NBL2 and WNBL2 appointments (2026/27)

• Pass the pre-season rules test.
• Take the fitness test: at least 66 laps (8 minutes) for NBL1/WNBL1 and 56 laps (7 minutes) for NBL2/WNBL2. Not taking it, or not meeting the standard, leads to restricted appointments.

When a home club appoints you to a Junior NBL or Division Three game, you must be fully licensed, have no family playing in the fixture and not be registered in the same competition. If you're under 18, your co-official must be at least 18 and Level 2 or above. The crew chief must be independent of the home club.