Question Number: 31464

Law 11 - Offside 4/19/2017

RE: Football lover & a Football player(not professiona College

STHITADHI DAS of KOLKATA, WEST BENGAL INDIA asks...

Suppose my teammate passes me the forward to me when I am in onside position, i.e. the opponent defenders are ahead to me. I beat them and reaches to the space between the opponent goalkeeper and the defenders, but I find that my another teammate was already in that space before I reach there, and I give him a pass and he scores a goal(just imagine about the third goal of CR7 against Bayern Munich in the Champions League 2016-'17 quarter final second leg). Will it be considered as a goal?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

H Sthitadhi,
there was no issue for you to run onto a ball if you were in an onside position when your teammate sent the ball into the area.
When you arrive in that area and CONTACT the ball then all your teammates are adjudged for offside position.
This pass you now make is looked at as a new offside review. Your teammate receiving this pass must be further away from the opposing goal line than the 2nd last opponent or be BEHIND/even the ball when you last touch it over.

In Ronaldo's 3rd goal it was close enough that I doubt if the AR was sure!
We are not to flag unless we are sure it is offside!
In freeze frame mode although the two attackers LOOK identical as being even, the ball was in at the feet when it was touched over and it looked as if Ronaldo was leaning his head (a playable body part) just slightly ahead of the ball when the pass was sent across. In real time not sure I would be able to distinguish it. Thus possibly marginally offside by inches unlike his 2nd goal where he was clearly offside in yards.

The fact Ronaldo was in an offside position when his teammate broke through the defenders is of NO consequence as he was not interfering with play or opponent. ONLY when his teammate passed him the ball was he ready to be looked at from a positional standpoint. As I said it was VERY close and to allow a goal because the AR thought he was even or behind the ball is understandable .
It is a myth that an OPP who was poaching or lazy cannot get involved if his team mate provides him a reset no matter how unfair it might seem

Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Sthitadhi
Offside is evaluated on each touch or play of the ball. So in your example you ran with the ball from an onside position to behind all the defenders. Now the moment you play the ball the AR will have to determine the position of your team mate at that exact moment. If your team mate is in an offside position then he will be called offside when he interferes with play or an opponent. If he is ahead of all the defenders the only way that he can stay onside is by staying behind the ball.
So in the CL goal by Ronaldo he was clearly in an offside position when Marcelo moved forward with the ball yet that is not an offence as he did not interfere with anyone. When Marcello ran through with the ball Ronaldo held back his movement and then when the ball was passed to him he was behind the ball in an onside position so all was okay with no offside. That was what the AR saw yet video evidence would suggest that Renaldo was slightly ahead of the ball at the moment of the pass which placed him in an offside position
Had the AR seen Ronaldo ahead of the ball when it was passed to him it would have been called offside due to his offside position. A player cannot be in an offside position behind the ball.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Sthitadhi,
The situation you are describing is covered (with one minor difference) on page 199 of the 2016-17 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.''

The only difference is that the player who starts out in possession of the ball passes it forward to a player who is in an onside position rather than dribbling forward with the ball himself as Marcelo did in the game situation you describe.

However, the issue of the player who was on an offside position earlier in the move but then becomes involved later at a time when he is in an onside position, is the same.

As the description on page 199 of the Laws shows, it doesn't matter where the player was earlier, only where he is when the ball is finally passed to him.