Drone Soccer

F9A (Drone Soccer) provisonal class rules are detailed in Chapter B of the Volume F9 Drone Sport.

The class F9A includes two subclasses: F9A-A for drone balls diameter 40cm and F9A-B for drone balls diameter 20cm.

Find below a summary of the main rules for the F9A class. See the Volume F9 Drone Sport for the detailed rules and specifications applicable in each subclass.

• Download the FAI Sporting Code Section 4 Aeromodelling F9 Drone Sport Volume 2024 Edition - Effective 1st January 2024

PLAYers

Drone soccer is played with 3 to 5 active players in each team. There will be the same number of active players for each team at the beginning of the match. The number of active players per team is defined by the organiser when the event is annouced.

Every active player is flying a drone ball. One active player is designated as the Striker who is the only player who may score with his/her drone ball going through the opponents' goal ring. The other active players may act with their drone ball as a guide for the Striker and/or as a defender for their own goal.

For each match, one of the active players will be appointed team captain and as spokesperson to communicate with the match referee and the scoring referees.

The total number of players authorized to be registered in a team will be the number of active players defined by the organiser plus 2 (two) additional players.

Every players must hold a valid FAI Sporting Licence or Drone Permission to particpate to an event registered in the FAI Calendar.

Drone BALL SPECIFICATIONS

Every 2.4 GHz spread spectrum technology RC equipment may be used to pilot the drone ball.

The drone ball must be equipped with a fail-safe device for which the activation stops the motors.

A spherical protective frame shall surround the drone ball. All the components of the drone ball must be placed inside the spherical protective frame. Nothing should protrude from this frame. The protective frame can be from plastic or composite materials, but not from metal.

In order the drone balls of each team could be clearly recognized during the match, red colour will be assigned to a team and blue colour to the other team. So, a LED strip must be installed on each drone ball which may be clearly visible from any angle.

An additional LED light unit  will be installed on the rear part of each drone ball with capability to rapidly switch the colour. The colour will be different for each drone ball to allow each active player to identify the position of his/her drone ball, and to permit differentiation of the different active players of the team. Each team may choose their colours subject the colours are clearly distinguishable from one another, and not to consider the colour, red or blue, assigned to the team concerned. However, the colour for the drone ball of the Striker (scorer drone ball) will be blue for the red team, and red for the blue team

PLAYING FIELD

A drone soccer event may be organized indoor or outdoor.

The playing field is mainly composed of a flying zone and two pilots' areas (one for each team). The flying zone shall be a rectangle marked by continuous lines and must be protected with a cage. During the sets of a match, nobody may be inside the protection cage. The pilot’s areas (one for each team) will be located outside the protection cage on its shorter sides.

The flying zone will be equipped with two goal rings (one for each team). For electronic scoring, a detection sensor may be installed on each goal ring provided this does not interfere with the scorer drone ball crossing the goal ring.

ORGANISATION OF A MATCH

A match is subdivided into three sets. Time allocated for each set is three minutes.

The position of the teams on the playing field (left or right side) is determined with a coin toss done by the match referree. The team that wins the coin toss chooses their side, which defines the pilots' area. The teams keep the same side for the entire match, and so will stay in the same pilot’s area for all three sets.

A team scores a goal when the drone ball of the Striker crosses the goal ring of the opponent’s team.

The scoring referee concerned is responsible to decide if the goal may be scored. Scoring by crossing the opponent's goal ring with the drone ball of an active player who is not the Striker will not be recognized as a goal. There will be no penalty for doing that.

When a team scores a goal, all active players of the concerned team must immediately return to their side of the flying zone before attempting to score again. The scoring referee concerned is responsible for ensuring this is done properly. In case of an infringement, a penalty shot will be granted against the concerned team. In addition, a following goal which will be considered by the scoring referee as resulting from the violation of the rule will not be validated.

For each set, the team that scores more goals in the set wins the set. If both teams score the same number of goals, or neither team scores a goal, the set will end with a tie between the two teams. The team that wins two sets is the winner of the match.

All penalties (penalty shot, warning, yellow and red card) are granted by the match referee. Penalties expire once the match is finished and do not carry over into subsequent matches.