Question Number: 14823

Law 11 - Offside 2/11/2007

RE: Pro Under 16

Steven of Broxburn, Scotland asks...

Can a striker be offside from a goal kick if he is in the opposition half and between all defenders with only the goalkeeper infront of him??

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

There is NO OFFSIDE directly from a goal kick. End of discussion!

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Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Unless the discussion revolves around being in an offside position. Note, what you ask is: can a striker commit an offside offence if he receives the ball directly from a goal kick? The answer is NO. He can be in an offside position but, by Law 11, it is impossible to commit an offside offence if the ball is received directly from goal kick, corner kick or throw-in.

Regards,

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Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Steven,
seperate offside position from an offside infringment.
There are three restarts that EXEMPT the initial stage of CONSIDERING offside which requires offside POSITION.
That is why the INVOLVEMENT by an offside positioned player is OK on a direct ball off any of those three restarts as the offside criteria to CONSIDER offside cannot occur until a NEW touch of the ball by a teammate occurs resetting offside positions from their previous exemption.

Cheers

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Offside Question?
Offside Explained by Chuck Fleischer & Richard Dawson, Former & Current Editor of AskTheRef

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