Question Number: 16580

Law 11 - Offside 9/7/2007

RE: Adult

Ross of san francisco, USA asks...

If an offensive player who is offside goes out of bounds on the side of the goal to be out of the play and the other offensive player shots and the goalie catches it and the player who left the field gets permission from the ref to re enter and does so. If the goalie mishandles or miskicks the ball the the player who got waived back in is there to receive it and scores, is that a vaild goal or not?

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Goodness! Let's see: 1) player leaves field to avoid being called for offside - this is fine and legal; 2) player returns to field with referee's permission - this is fine and legal and correct; 3) goalkeeper catches ball and plays ball out into field and it goes to player who returned to field and who is now able to play; 4) player receives ball from defender (goalkeeper) so there can be no offside call; 5) therefore, ipso facto goal counts. Restart: kickoff. However, in other situations, the referee needs to be careful not to allow the player back onto the field until the ball has cleared the area where the departed player was - and the player should be smart enough not to ask until he can safely re-enter without putting himself right back into the same offside situation.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Ross I see you are a fan of The Game. When a referee is faced with allowing an offside player to return after he has communicated his intention not to participate to by leaving the field the referee must not allow the return until play has turned and his returning will no longer result in controversy. Here the keeper is in control and until another attacker touches the ball.

When the keeper makes a hash of it and the ball winds up at the feet of the previously offside player a goal is there for the taking.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Since the keeper had possession of the ball, the attacker cannot be offside. After all, the attacker received the ball from a controlled pass by the keeper. We evaluate offside at the moment the ball touches a teammate.