Full Time
The end of the regulation playing period of a match, signalled by the official, after which the result stands unless further play is required.
Definition
Full time marks the conclusion of a match's normal playing period. In football the referee signals full time with a whistle after the two halves and any added stoppage time have been completed, at which point the score determines the result. The term is common in timed field sports and denotes that the scheduled duration of play is over.
In competitions where a match cannot end level, the score at full time may only be provisional: a tie can lead to extra time and, if still unresolved, a penalty shoot-out or equivalent. Full time therefore means the end of regulation play rather than necessarily the end of the contest. It contrasts with half time, the interval that divides the match into periods.
Where you’ll hear “full time”
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Officiating
- Start and Stop SignalsThe whistle, gun, bell or hooter an official uses to begin and end play or a race, plus the rules that keep starts clean and penalise false starts.
- RefereeThe primary on-field official who enforces the rules, controls play, penalises fouls, awards restarts, and blows the whistle to start and stop a match.
- TimekeeperThe timekeeper is the official who runs a contest's clock — starting and stopping time, timing rounds, races and periods, and signalling when time expires.
- Out-of-Bounds CallAn official's ruling that the ball or a player in possession has left the legal playing area, stopping play and handing a restart or possession to the opponent.
- UmpireA match official who rules on lines, serves and dismissals in racket, bat-and-ball and net sports such as tennis, cricket and baseball — and, in racket sports, also keeps the running score.
Strategies
- Game managementAdapting how a team or athlete plays to the scoreline and time remaining — protecting a lead, chasing a result or seeing out the closing stages.
- Playing the percentagesFavouring the higher-probability, lower-risk option most of the time to cut out unforced errors, while recognising when a calculated risk is worth taking.
- Adapting to ConditionsAdapting to conditions is the strategy of shaping your game plan around the venue, surface, weather, altitude and home-or-away setting you face.
Facilities
Goals
- Return to sportEasing back into activity after time away, a long break or a period off through injury.
- Sports for beginnersHow to start playing sport from scratch — choosing a first activity and building up gently.
- Build muscleChallenge your muscles with regular resistance training and steady recovery to build strength over time.
- TeamworkDevelop cooperation, communication and trust by playing sports that rely on working together.
Rules
- Direct and indirect free kicksThe two types of free kick awarded in football to restart play after a foul or other stoppage.
- Out of boundsThe rule that a ball or player leaving the marked playing area is out of play and possession is decided at the boundary.
- Double dribbleA basketball violation for dribbling with two hands at once, or for dribbling again after picking up the ball.
- Yellow and red cardsThe disciplinary cards a football referee shows to caution or send off a player for misconduct.
- Tennis serving rulesThe rules governing how a tennis point begins, including where the server stands and where the serve must land.
Decision making
- When to attackRecognising the moment to commit to an attacking action — spotting an opening and judging whether it is the right time to take it.
- Adapting to conditionsAdjusting your decisions as the conditions around you change — weather, surface, equipment, fatigue or an opponent's style.
- Pass selectionChoosing which pass to play, and to whom, from the options a moment offers — weighing space, risk and what the team is trying to do.
- Reading spaceSeeing where space is — and is not — on the field or court, and using it to decide where to move, pass or play.
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- Content type
- Term
- Provenance
- Tier A — evergreen educational
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- 0
- Content updated
- 2026-08-04
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