Question Number: 24627

Law 11 - Offside 2/28/2011

RE: competitive Adult

sandile of Mbabane, hhohho swaziland asks...

I was watching the Sevella vs Athletico Madrid Game during the weekend where the ref blew for an indirect kick inside the box(keeper collected a back pass), but the 2 Madrid players quickly restared (backwarrds pass) the play before any of the Sevilla players could cover,i.e the Madrid 2 players had only the goalkeeper infront of them, which I thionk it was an offside but the ref did not blow for offside.

WHAT IS THE CORRECT RULING HERE?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

There are 3 conditions, all of which must be met to be in an offside position:
- in the attacking half of the field
- ahead of the 2nd to last defender (any 2 defenders; usually includes the keeper, but not always)
- ahead of the ball.

If the second player was behind the ball when the restart was taken, then there was no offside position.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Sandile
The question that the referee and assistant must answer here on the scenario you describe is whether the team mate of the kicker was in an offside position when the ball was kicked. The key condition here in this scenario from Law 11 was the position of the player relative to the ball. If he was behind the ball when it was kicked then he cannot be offside as he is not in an offside position.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

I think you are forgetting the second part of what constitutes an offside position. The player must be nearer the opponent's goal line than the next to last opponent AND THE BALL. If the Madrid player that put the ball in play kicked the ball backwards to his teammate, then there can be no offside as the teammate was behind the ball, i.e. NOT nearer the opponent's goal than the ball.