Question Number: 30736

Law 11 - Offside 9/9/2016

RE: Intermediate Under 13

Phil of Tarzana, CA United States asks...

This question is a follow up to question 30693

I just watched this about 10 times in super slow motion. I don't think it's so clear that there's an offside infringement. While Morata comes from an offside position at the time of the pass, it appears to me that the defender who fell tried to change direction to block the pass, & slipped. It looked like he was not impacted by Morata. The ball then goes past both of them & there's a collision, which did not affect the play, as the ball was well past both of them.

When the next shot is taken, Morata is already back onside & so can play the rebound.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Phil
Morata action for me is a challenge on an opponent which is interfering with an opponent. To make the challenge he clearly comes from an offside position. If there was a VAR here it would be called offside.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Phil, the way the offside law is worded, it is sufficient to challenge an opponent for the ball, to be guilty of interfering with that opponent. It does not require us to assess the impact this had on the opponent, we just have to decide if a challenge took place, or not. I would have to agree with my colleague ref McHugh that it is sufficiently clear that Morita did indeed challenge for the ball, for him to be judged guilty of an offside offence.

The relevant parts of the law state that:

'A player in an offside position at the moment the ball is played or touched by a team-mate is only penalised on becoming involved in active play by:
[...]
interfering with an opponent by:
[...]
challenging an opponent for the ball ...'

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 30745