A dropped-ball is one of several methods of getting play restarted during a game of soccer. A drop-ball is not awarded to one of the teams. In case the referee must stop play for any reason that is not the result of the ball leaving the field of play a drop-ball is used. Instances may be serious injury, external interference or a broken ball.
In practice, the ball is dropped between two players of opposing sides by the referee in the last spot in which it was in play, unless this is an area close to the goal in parallel to the actual gold neck and line. Once the ball touches the ground, the ball is considered to be in play, the players must not touch it until it has actually touched the ground.