Question Number: 25063

Law 11 - Offside 6/5/2011

RE: Competitive Adult

Andrew of Sydney, New South Wales Australia asks...

Play is happening in the attacking end of the field. Attacker A attempts to pass the ball to attacker B who is in an offside position. A defender attempts to intercept the ball with his head. The ball skims the defenders head and the ball lands at the feet of attacker B.
In the above example if a player who is in an offside position when he receives the ball directly from an opponent, is he offside?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Andrew
As described this is offside as the player in an offside position has gained an advantage by being in that position under Law 11. A deflection, rebound off an opponent does not reset offside.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Offside. Offside position is not reconsidered when the ball deflects off an opponent.

Note: a header by the defender presents a different judgment call for the referee. Has the defender controlled and played the ball? If so, the player in offside position will be eligible to play the ball.

At lower skill levels, however, the referee is more likely to judge a header to be a deflection than a controlled play.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

In the above example, the player in offside position did not receive the ball directly from an opponent as from your description the ball was not played by an opponent, it merely skimmed the opponent's head. If the referee believes the opponent played the ball then no offside.