Question Number: 33865

Law 11 - Offside 2/2/2020

RE: Adult

Demetrios of Limassol, Cyprus asks...

Hello there, reference video https://youtu.be/3bD8E9Wwo3A concerning the match AEL v APOLLON 2-0 for the Cyprus league dated Feb2, 2020.At 9:25 in your opinion was it a penalty or offside? Was it maybe nothing of the above? Thx a lot/Demetris

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Demetrios
It looks to me that the correct decision is a penalty kick.
The player in an offside position does not do enough for me to interfere with an opponent BEFORE the foul to merit an offside call,
According to Law 11 to interfere with an opponent a player has to either prevent an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by
# clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or
# challenging an opponent for the ball or
# clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent or
# make an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball .
In my opinion the player in an offside does not do any of the four actions preventing a defender from playing or being able to play the ball and therefore it was not offside.
It is simply the defender fouling the attacker through a trip as he goes forward with the ball going towards a team mate who is in an offside position.
The reason the offside flag goes up is that the ball goes to the PIOP from the fouled attacker but that happened AFTER the foul by the defender.