Question Number: 17669

Law 11 - Offside 11/4/2007

RE: rec Under 11

joe of agoura hills , california usa asks...

Attacker dribbles past the defender on the right wing position, she gets to the penalty box on the right corner of it and shoots at the goal hitting the left goal post, the ball bounces out and our left winger kicks it in the goal. the ref cancels the goal, he says that AFTER the ball hit the left goal post our left wing attacker was OFFSIDE. There was NO PASS to the left wing, this should be a live ball after it hit the goal post? YES ??
Thank you Joe

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

If that's what the ref said, he didn't explain himself very well. He could have been entirely correct in the call.

If the player who retrieved the ball off the post was in an offside position at the time the shot was taken, offside would be the correct call. The ball didn't need to be passed to him; rather he gained an advantage from his offside position by being able to recover the ball off the rebound.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Not necessarily. If the left wing attacker was in offside position when the shot was taken, he may not participate in play until offside resets. A shot on goal does not reset offside. The ball doesn't have to be passed to this player for him to be guilty of an offside offence. In fact, it doesn't matter where the ball is played, this player may not play it

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Joe,
Offside position for the left winger is established first when the right sided teammate shoots.
If the left sided winger was evaluated as offside positioned when the SHOT occurred ( the moment the ball touches or is played by one of his team) then she is restricted from future involvement in play.

What FIFA has implied nothing changes, a rebound of the ball does not free an offside restricted player of the opposing team.

FIFA QUOTE lAW 11 OFFSIDE
"A player in an offside position is only penalised if, at the moment the ball touches or is played by one of his team, he is, in the opinion of the referee, involved in active play by:
interfering with play or
interfering with an opponent or
gaining an advantage by being in that position.

Decision 2 point 3 law 11 OFFSIDE
-Gaining an advantage by being in that position means playing a ball that rebounds to him off a post or the crossbar having been in an offside position or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

We don't know enough to say whether or not the call was correct or incorrect. If the attacker who ended up scoring the goal was in an offside position at the time the ball was kicked by the first attacker then the referee was correct.

The rebound to the offside positioned left winger results in the player gaining an advantage by being in that position and thus the offside decision is correct.

If the left winger wasn't in an offside position when the first attacker played the ball then there can be no infringement for a violation of Law 11 (offside).