Question Number: 14771

Law 11 - Offside 1/31/2007

RE: Rec Under 15

Jon Harris of Rancho Cucamonga, CA USA asks...

An attacker is in an offside position at the taking of a corner kick. The kick is taken, and the ball deflects (not played in a deliberate or controlled manner) off a defender to the offside attacker, who then becomes involved in active play. Is the attacker penalized for offside?

Law 11 states a player cannot by penalized for offside if he receives it DIRECTLY from a corner kick, goal kick or throw in. Nor is he penalized if the ball was last PLAYED by a defender. He is penalized if he was in an offside position when the ball was last touched/played by a teammate and then becomes involved in active play, even though the ball DEFLECTS off an opponent on the way to him.

I guess my real question is: For offside decisions, do you treat deflections off opponents the same way at the taking of corner kicks, throw ins and goal kicks as you do during the run of play? Can you judge that the attacker received the ball DIRECTLY even if there is a deflection off an opponent?

Thanks for your time.

Answer provided by Referee Nathan Lacy

There is no offside/offside position at the taking of a corner kick. All the best,

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

There is no offside here. If you consider the opponent's touch to be a deflection, then that touch doesn't count, so it is still just as if the player received the ball directly from the corner kick. If you don't consider it to be a deflection, then you are saying the opponent was the last to play the ball, again no offside.

The reason corner kicks are exempt from offside is that the ball is deemed to be on the goal line, even though it could actually be up to a yard off the line. Since the ball is "on" the line, there's no way a player could be on the field and ahead of the ball. No offside position possible, means no offside offense.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Nope! The only we he would would be if another attacker touched ball before it got to the offside positioned attacker.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Jon,
That word directly has confused others but a deflection of the ball off an opponent wil not reset the offside criteria what was before remains. On the corner kick restart offside was exempt, after the deflection off the opponent offside it still is exempt UNTIL a TEAMMATE next touches that ball. Cheers