Question Number: 25129

Law 11 - Offside 6/23/2011

RE: Adult

Xi Luo of Shanghai, Shanghai China asks...

Dear Ref,
Attacking player A crosses the ball from right side, and his onside teammate B and C are attempting to score. Player B is at the near-post, but he failed to strike the ball and don't touch the ball either. Then Player C at the far-post kicked the ball and scores. It is worth notice that the plaer C is in offside position when the player B attempt his strike, although B don't touch the ball. In this situation, whether an offside should be called out here?

Rgds,
Xi

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Xi
If Player B did not touch the ball nor either Player B or C were in an offside position when Player A crossed the ball then that is not offside.
As described it would only be offside if Player B touched the ball.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Offside position is only determined when a member of the team touches the ball.

Since player B and C were onside when the ball was last touched by their team, both remain eligible to play the ball. Moreover, since player B never touched the ball, there was nothing that required a reconsideration of player C's status in the events that followed the original shot.