Question Number: 15511

Law 11 - Offside 5/18/2007

RE: Other

Dawn Vieyra of Croydon, Surrey asks...

Can an attacker be offside from his goalkeepers goal kick?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Nope. Law 11 specifically exempts players from offside when receiving the ball directly from 3 restarts - throw-in, corner kick and goal kick. The rationale for this lies deep in the 19th Century historical definitions of offside - but there has been no compelling reason to remove the provision in modern times.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

No. There is no offside on a goal kick, corner kick, or throwin.

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

No. Nor can he be offside from a goal kick taken by any player.

However, if the ball was in play and the goalkeeper punted the ball or otherwise played the ball from dynamic (live) play then your player could very well end up offside, if all the conditions were met for an offense of Law 11.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Dawn, this all depends on your definition of a "goalkeeper's goal kick". Do you mean the keeper has the ball in her hands or is she restarting play after the ball has crossed the goal line having last been touched by an opponent.

My colleagues all assume you mean the former and if that's true they are correct. A lot of American players think the keeper punting the ball is a goal kick, NOT SO. If that's what you're thinking about there sure can be an offside offence, given offside position when the ball is kicked. Why? What she is doing is releasing the ball from her hands, not restarting play with a goal kick.

Regards,