Question Number: 35857

Mechanics 1/7/2025

Petr of Prague, Czech Republic Czech Republic asks...

This question is a follow up to question 35856

Thanks. It's getting funny, I admit. :-) But I was referring to the offside line that technology draws.

Law 11

A player is in an offside position if:

ANY PART OF THE HEAD, body or feet is nearer to the opponents’ goal line than
both the ball and the second-last opponent

Are hair also part of the head? (very important for Fellaini) That technology has players without hair and focuses on a lot of points.

https://inside.fifa.com/technical/football-technology/football-technologies-and-innovations-at-the-fifa-world-cup-2022/semi-automated-offside-technology

Maybe the referee could then solve it manually with VAR. Fellaini's hair puts him offside quite easily, even though his forehead is onside. It's about every centimeter.

I think hair is part of the head, but the technology confuses me.

How is it according to Law 11?

Thank you very much!

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Petr ,
in retrospect I gave an opinion in the last question but to clarify given VAR is a stickler on the freeze frame for closest playable body point, it could ONLY be plausible on a player /LEANING/ forward, ahead of the legs, so not very likely and not really a concern at the grass roots.


Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Petr
I agree eith Referee Dawson.

It all boils down to the VAR technical operator and where that match official place the imaginary line on the screen to assist with the offside calculation.
The line in my opinion will be placed on a body part capable of playing the ball so I cannot see the line being placed anywhere other than the normal locations such as leg, shoulder, head etc.