Question Number: 25787

Law 11 - Offside 11/29/2011

RE: Adult

Suljone of Zagreb, Croatia asks...

This question is a follow up to question 25778

Thanks for replies.
I am not concern about eventually referee mistake in the concrete situation on game mentioned, but on the (theoretical) question: what is limit when defenders touching the ball is not concerned as offside?

For example, consider following slightly changed variation:

Attacker A is still in offside position.

What if Attacker B plays the ball forward and some defender on ball's path, few meters away, intentionaly slide towards it and merely change its direction, so the ball somehow still goes to attacker A.

Is that offside?

Bearing in mind that classic situation, where ball barely touches defener and rebounds to attacker A, IS considered as offside, i am asking: What is 'upper limit'
for defender to touches/plays the ball without calling offside?

In other words, which defenders touches resets the situation, and which not, and where is boundary between two?

Thanks

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Suljone
The answer depends on the opinion of the referee as to whether control was exerted over the ball or not by the opponents which then resets offside or not.
As per your description merely changing the ball's direction on a slide would in my opinion not constitute resetting offside. However at higher levels the skill level dictates that the threshold is lowered for control on a touch of the ball.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The difference is whether the referee decides the touch was a deliberate play or was a rebound/deflection. In the Interpretation and Guidelines section of the Laws there are several diagrams showing this concept. (While the Laws only uses the word rebound, at least one of those diagrams show what would be more likely described as a deflection.)

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

The answer is the opinion of the referee. To me, what you describe is not a rebound or deflection but a play on the ball by the defender so no offside. Another referee may see this differently.