Foil: the point only, the trunk only, and priority decides.

A thrusting weapon

At foil, offensive actions are made only with the point (t.76.1). The foil conventions, the block of rules that applies only to this weapon, run from t.76 to t.89.

The valid target

The foil target is the trunk. It excludes the limbs and the head (t.77.1). The rule draws its edges precisely:

• Top: the collar, up to 6 cm above the prominences of the collar bones.
• Sides: the sleeve seams, which should cross the head of the upper-arm bone (humerus).
• Bottom: a horizontal line across the back joining the tops of the hip bones, then straight lines from there to the junction of the groin lines.
• The bib: the part of the mask bib below a horizontal line 1.5 to 2 cm under the chin is also target, and that part may never extend below the shoulder line.

Only hits on that target count (t.77.2). The FIE Congress of 22 November 2025 amended t.77.2 to add an exception for the substitution case in t.79.1.c, described below (read from the decisions document; a clean 2026 edition of the Technical Rules could not be opened). The conductive jacket (lame) is cut to cover the whole valid target in the on-guard position, and the bib below the chin line is covered in matching conductive material (Material Rules, August 2026, m.28.1 and m.27.2). How that equipment is made is covered in the equipment section.

A hit off the target

At foil, a hit that lands off the target is not valid, but it is not ignored either: it stops the fencing phrase and annuls any hit that follows it (t.78). This is the main difference from sabre, where an off-target hit is simply not registered.

Covering the target

Covering or substituting the valid target with another part of the body is forbidden and is a 1st-group offence. If a fencer, by an abnormal position, puts a non-valid area in place of the valid target, a hit that lands there is counted as valid (t.79). This is one of only two cases in which the referee may award a hit the apparatus did not register as valid; the other is a penalty hit (t.54.2).

Priority: the foil conventions

At foil the referee alone decides whether a hit is valid and which fencer had priority, by applying the foil conventions (t.82). Priority is often called right of way. The rules set out the principle as follows (t.83 to t.89):

• Every correctly executed attack must be parried or completely avoided, and the phrase must be continuous (t.83).
• A correct simple attack needs the arm to be straightening, with the point threatening the target, before the lunge or fleche begins. Actions made with a bent arm count as preparations, not attacks (t.83).
• An attack into an opponent who has the point in line must first deflect the opponent's blade; a mere contact of the blades is not enough, and if the attacker fails to find the blade the right of attack passes to the opponent (t.84.1 and t.84.2).
• A parry gives the right to riposte (t.86).
• A stop hit into a compound attack is valid only if it arrives a period of fencing time before the attack's final movement (t.88).

"Fencing time" is the rules' own unit: the time needed to carry out one simple fencing action (t.7). "Point in line" means the sword arm is straight and the point continuously threatens the opponent's valid target (t.15). These are definitions the referee applies, not instructions.

When both fencers are hit

The rules sort a double touch at foil into two kinds (t.89.1 to t.89.5):

• Simultaneous action: both hits are annulled, even if one of them was off target.
• Double hit: caused by a fault by one fencer. Only the fencer at fault is counted hit. The rules list the faults that count, separately for the attacked fencer and for the attacker.

If the referee cannot judge on which side the fault lies, the fencers are put back on guard (t.89.6).

What stops the action

Several things end a phrase at foil, some decided by the apparatus and some by the referee.

The foil apparatus works on a circuit that is broken by a hit: current flows permanently in the foil circuit, and the tip must take more than 500 g of pressure to register (Material Rules, August 2026, Annexe B and m.11.3). The equipment side is covered in the scoring equipment.

Foil-only offences and the 2025 changes

Pushing or dragging the point on the electric piste during a bout, or placing the weapon on the piste to straighten it, is a 1st-group offence at foil (t.76.2). The FIE Congress of 22 November 2025 adopted a rule that at foil and sabre fencers may not come on guard in the "in line" position (t.22 as renumbered). Technical Rules amendments from that Congress apply from 1 January 2026 unless the decisions document gives another date; a clean 2026 edition of the Technical Rules could not be opened to confirm the final wording.

The weapon itself

Under the FIE Material Rules (August 2026), a foil weighs less than 500 g ready for use (m.6) and is no more than 110 cm long overall (m.7). Its blade is rectangular in section, with edges chamfered so they cannot cut, and no more than 90 cm long (m.8.1, m.8.2 and m.8.4). The rules make maraging steel blades obligatory at all three weapons at FIE level (m.2.1); national rules can differ. The armourer and the weapon control at a competition check whether a weapon conforms; this site does not.

Where foil comes from

British Fencing's history, by Malcolm Fare, links the foil and its conventions to the danger of the small sword even with buttoned tips. The FIE's Foil Rules were adopted in Paris on 12 June 1914 (FIE Rules, Introduction, i.2). Sources date the arrival of electric scoring at foil differently: British Fencing gives the 1955 World Championships, Olympedia the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, and the FIE's historical note 1957 for the adoption of its electrical foil rules. Women fenced foil at the Olympics from Paris 1924, and only foil until 1996 (Olympedia).

Wheelchair foil

Wheelchair foil uses the same trunk target, including the bib below the chin line (IWAS Wheelchair Fencing Technical Rules, January 2018, t.47.2). The distance between the chairs is set before the bout by reach to the inner edge of the opponent's bent forearm (foil conventions, section A). The details are on the wheelchair fencing page.