Basketball Rules Explained: FIBA's Game in Plain English

The game in one article

FIBA states it in a sentence: basketball is played by two teams of five players each, and the aim of each team is to score in the opponents’ basket and prevent the other team from scoring.

Everything else is timing.

	FIBA
Players on court	5 per team
Squad	max 12 entitled to play, including the captain
Game length	4 quarters × 10 minutes = 40 minutes
Half-time	15 minutes
Between quarters	2 minutes
Foul-out	5 fouls

Why FIBA games are 40 minutes and NBA games are 48

This is the difference that confuses people most when they watch both.

Under Article 8.1, a FIBA game consists of four quarters of ten minutes each — 40 minutes of playing time. The NBA plays four quarters of twelve minutes, for 48.

That eight-minute gap is not trivial. It is why FIBA scores are typically lower than NBA scores, and why statistics from international basketball and the NBA cannot be compared per-game without adjusting for it. A player averaging 20 points in FIBA competition is scoring at a meaningfully higher rate than one averaging 20 in the NBA.

FIBA’s interval structure is also specific: 15 minutes at half-time, and 2 minutes between the first and second quarters, between the third and fourth, and before each overtime.

Scoring: it’s about where the feet were

Three values, and the rule that decides which applies is simpler than it looks:

• 1 point — a goal from a free throw
• 2 points — a goal released from the two-point area
• 3 points — a goal released from the three-point area

The determining factor is where the shot was released from, not where the ball went or where the player landed. A shooter who takes off from behind the arc and lands inside it has still scored three.

Four clocks, one purpose

Baseball reached the same conclusion eventually, and much later: its pitch clock, introduced in 2023, cut roughly 24 minutes from the average game in a single season.

Basketball’s distinctive rhythm comes from having several independent countdowns running at once, all designed to stop teams from simply holding the ball.

Clock	Requirement
24 seconds	Attempt a shot at the basket after gaining control
8 seconds	Move the ball from your backcourt into the frontcourt
5 seconds	Act when closely guarded
3 seconds	Time limited in the opponents’ restricted area

The shot clock has a detail worth knowing: it does not always reset to 24. If the ball hits the rim and the attacking team recovers it in the frontcourt, the clock resets to 14 seconds, not 24. That rule is why offensive rebounds produce such frantic possessions — the team has barely half the usual time.

No other major team sport polices possession this aggressively. Soccer lets a team keep the ball indefinitely; basketball gives you 24 seconds and then takes it away.

Fouls, and the number that ends your night

Under FIBA rules a player who has already committed five fouls commits an excluded player’s foul on their next one and must leave the game (Article 41.3). The NBA allows six.

That single-foul difference changes how the game is coached. In FIBA competition a key player with four fouls in the third quarter is a genuine crisis; in the NBA there is one more to spend.

The new disruptive foul, from 1 October 2026

FIBA’s 2026 rulebook introduces a foul category that did not previously exist, and it is worth understanding before it appears in matches.

A disruptive foul (Article 37) is illegal contact with an opponent that does not rise to the level of a flagrant foul, but which disrupts the flow of the game and puts the opponent at a disadvantage. FIBA lists three triggers:

• Stopping a transition. Unnecessary contact by a defender who is not legitimately trying to play the ball, in order to halt the attacking team’s progress in transition — applying until the attacker starts the act of shooting.
• Stopping the clock. Unnecessary contact anywhere on court, again without genuinely playing the ball, to stop the game clock or shot clock at the end of a quarter or overtime.
• Contact on a clear path. Illegal contact from behind or laterally on an opponent progressing towards the basket with no opponents between them and the basket, whether they control the ball, are attempting to gain control, or have had it passed to them.

The rulebook adds a discipline for referees: interpret disruptive fouls consistently throughout the game and judge only the action — not the outcome, and not the reputation of the player.

In effect FIBA has codified the “professional foul” that every basketball watcher recognises: the cynical grab that trades a foul for a stopped fast break. The penalty is charged to the offender and counts as a team foul.

This takes effect on 1 October 2026. It is not in force at the time of writing, and if you are watching a match before that date you will not see it called.

FIBA is not the NBA

This page follows FIBA, which governs the Olympic tournament, the World Cup and international basketball generally. The NBA maintains its own rulebook.

The differences that catch people out most:

	FIBA	NBA
Game length	4 × 10 min	4 × 12 min
Foul-out	5 fouls	6 fouls

There are others — court markings, defensive rules and timeout structures among them. If something you are watching does not match this page, check which competition it is before assuming the page is wrong.

This split between an international federation’s code and a dominant domestic league’s own rulebook is the same situation as ice hockey, where the IIHF and NHL diverge — and the opposite of golf, where the R&A and USGA deliberately publish one identical text.

More breakdowns of how sports actually work are in rules and techniques.