Question Number: 30271

Law 11 - Offside 4/9/2016

RE: Adult

michaelroy of perth, w.a Australia asks...

If a player has been in an offside position for sometime his team mate beats the second last defender then passes him the ball is he still considered off side ?

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Michael,
It doesn't matter where the ball carrier is in relation to the defenders. In order for a player to be in an offside position, 3 criteria must be met:

1) In the opponent's half
2)In front of the ball
3)closer to the opponent's goal line than the second last line of defence

(for the last 2 points, even a sliver of the body - except the arms - in front will count).

So his teammate has run past the defence, but that doesn't matter. I'm assuming the player receiving the ball is also past the second last line of defence, so all we're worried about is whether he's in front of the ball. If so, offside. If not, no offside.

so as an attacker, you want to stay level with your teammate if you're in a 2-vs-keeper scenario. You may even want to consider staying a pace behind if there's no AR, just to minimise the chance of being incorrectly penalised (offside can be hard to judge without a neutral AR).

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Michael
The answer depends on the position of the attacker at moment the ball is played / touch by the team mate who has moved passed the 2nd last opponent with the ball. To remain in an onside position the player has to remain behind the ball. It makes no difference if he was in an offside position previously as the team mate has began a new phase of play when he goes past the defender.