Question Number: 24967

Law 11 - Offside 5/17/2011

RE: Competitive Adult

Alex Estrada of Orange, CA USA asks...

This came up last night in a game on the opposite side of the field. An attacker in the offside position is slow to get back onside. The defender controlling the ball clears the ball and in doing so kicks the ball into the back of a fellow teammate. The ball goes directly to the attacker. My question is, should he be called offsides?

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

The attacker should not be penalised for offside, because the defender has controlled the ball.

Had the ball simply sliced off the boot of the defender and gone backwards, then the attacker should be penalised (assuming all other offside criteria are met).

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Alex
The key here is control of the ball. This is not offside unless the ball was not controlled by the defender. If the ball was controlled by the defender and then miskicked into the back of a team mate that is an playing error and it is not offside when the ball rebounds to a player in an offside position.
It would be offside if the defender made a play at the ball deflecting it towards a team mate and it rebounds off him as well. There is no control of the ball by the defence here in either contact and offside is not reset.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Alex, we all assume when you say "fellow teammate" you are referring to a teammate of the keeper. Is that correct?.

Offside is judged and only judged at the moment the ball is touched or played by a teammate. Had the defender cleared the ball and it hit the back of an attacker and bounced to another attacker's feet who was in an offside position when the ball hit his teammate's back, then you would have an offside offense if the attacker played the ball. If the ball bounced off a teammate of the keeper. no offside

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Which player's back did the ball bounce off? That's the whole key to this question. You say a 'fellow teammate', so I presume that means a teammate of the defender who tried to clear the ball out. If so, there is no offside - the defender who attempted to clear the ball had a controlled touch (even if that touch didn't go where he wanted it to) so the other team has no offside considerations.

If we are wrong in our interpretations of your words and the ball deflected off a player from the same team as the slow to retreat attacker, then offside would apply.