Question Number: 31100

Law 11 - Offside 12/9/2016

RE: Adult

Mehdi of Mashhad, Iran asks...

http://video.varzesh3.com/video/129100/Ú¯Ù„-دوم-Ùرزاد-حاتمÛ'Ø›-استقلال-تراکتورسازÛ'

Would you let this goal be counted?

I think this is offside because the man who finished was in an offside position at the start of the movement.

Thank you

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mehdi
This goal is good. There is no offside offence here as all but one Red attacker are being played onside by the lone Blue defender at the top of the penalty area. There is one Red attacker in an offside position and he shows no interest in the ball. The opening line of Law 11 say that it is not an offence to be in an offside position so the player has to do something more. Even if the Red forward that dives for the header happens to make contact with the ball the Red scorer is behind him at that moment of contact so there is no offside in that phase of play either .
So good decision by the assistant who was alert to the position of the lone Blue defender.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Mehdi,
No you would think wrong! This is a TEXT BOOK CRYSTAL CLEAR GOOD GOAL made possible by LAZY DEFENDING.
OFFSIDE position is reviewed and reset AFTER a NEW touch of the ball by a team mate. The team mate of the one OPP (offside positioned player) was kept onside by the LATE nonchalant blue defender who waltzed out of his PA as if he had not a care in the world. As a blue coach this guy does laps! Once the ball is received and then passed by the teammate the FORMER OPP is no longer restricted from play due to his earlier position and is free to rejoin play BECAUSE he was BEHIND the ball when his team mate passed it to him. Remember when there is no 2nd last opponent the BALL is the deciding offside line!.
GOOD GOAL 100% The defending team trap was unworthy and they paid for standing about waving and wringing hands in the air gnashing teeth and uttering expletives! Play the whistle defend the space behind you soccer 101! Sigh
Cheers and Merry Christmas

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Mehdi,
This is a good goal. It doesn't matter where the player was at a previous time (whether this be one second, ten seconds or 30 seconds previously). It also doesn't matter where he was when the ball was played to someone else on his team, unless he was interfering with an opponent, which he wasn't. It only matters where he was when the ball was passed to him by a team mate - which in this case, was in an onside position.

As it happens, this is exactly the scenario described on page 199 of the Laws of the Game, as follows:

''An attacker (C) is in an offside position, not interfering with an opponent, when a team-mate (A) passes the ball to player (B1) in an onside position who runs towards the opponents' goal and passes the ball (B2) to team-mate (C).

Attacker (C) was in an onside position when the ball was passed, so cannot be penalised.''

If you care to download either the full laws document or just a section called 'Practical Guidelines for Match Officials' from the IFAB website there is also a diagram on the same page which may help to make this clearer.