Question Number: 14791

Law 11 - Offside 2/4/2007

RE: Rec Adult

Amardeep of San Diego, CA USA asks...

An attacker is in an offside position but is tracking back to get himself onside. At the time the ball is played he was tracking back, but then defending players run past him going back towards their goal.
At this point he turns around and chases after the ball, if he gets to the ball should he be given offside ? I've seen something similar to this in World Cup Play and Ruud Van Nistelrooy does this quit often. Not quite sure if this is offside or not.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Not enough info to answer here. If he was in an offside position at the time his teammate played ball, then he would be guilty if he touches ball. If he got back onto an onside position prior to his teammates play to him, then no offside. This is all a matter of where he was on field at the moment teammate touches ball. It does not matter if he was trying to get back onside or not. All you say is that defendeinf players run past him going back towards their goal, but you do not supply any info on where the potential guilty attacker was.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Armadeep,
strikers that are tracking back in offside positions are still offside positioned when the ball is kicked by their teammate if they are in fact closer to the opposing goal line either the 2nd last opponent or the ball. In order not to be offside that 2nd last opponent must have already passed them before their teammate touched the ball again.

Just because the defenders run by closer to their goal line AFTER in pursuit of the ball does not release the offside striker from his restriction to not participate in play.

When the striker stops and turns around and begins to chase that ball following the defenders who passed him he will be on the radar of offside flag by the AR depending on how play could or is affected.

Often the opposing team will regain controled posession of the ball and the offside becomes a thing of the past so no call is required as the ball is no longer last touched by a teammate.

HOWEVER, if the returning striker was still restricted because he was offside positioned when the teammate kicked the ball if he touches the ball to interefere with play or interferes with an opponent or gains an advantage off a deflection the indfk restart occurs from te point on the field where he was when the teammate kicked the ball.

The key to remember is at the moment the ball is last touched by the teammate freeze frame the position of all players and mark in your memory all who were offside positioned. Keep in mind now that as the ball moves so will all the players, so when or if involvement occurs it could look like there are no offside positioned players.

That does not matter because you go back to that freeze frame moment as that is when offside position WAS established . INVOLVEMENT can occur later during the offside phase of play and the three criteria remain in effect until the offside phase is over When the ball goes out of play, the opponents regan control and uncontested posession of the ball, or a teamate touches the ball and the positions with respect to the offside player have changed to be farther away from the opposing goal line than either the ball or 2nd last opponent .
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

The ONLY position that is important is where this player was in relation to his opponents and the ball at the moment the ball was played by his teammate. You have not given us enough information to give you an answer. If he was in offside position when the ball was played then, no, he may not go chase down the ball. If he was onside then he may.