Question Number: 25827

Law 11 - Offside 12/10/2011

RE: pro Professional

greg of arlington heights, illinois USA asks...

When a goalie is outside of the goalie box, does he become the last defender for offsides call?

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

For deciding purpose of offside position, the referee simply starts at the the goal line and counts forward. The keeper might be the second last defender even when inside the goal area (if a defender, for example, is standing on the goal line). Because it is so common for the keeper to be the 'last,' however, assistant referees have to keep a sharp focus when the keepers move forward.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Greg
Law 11 states that a player is in an offside position if he is nearer to his opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent.
Note there is no mention of goalkeeper specifically in this.
In a normal situation the goalkeeper will be one opponent and the assistant referee will then look for the 2nd last opponent. However there will be times when the goalkeeper is ahead of team mates so the AR has to determine who are the two last defenders. The GK could be the 2nd last or indeed he may not be should there be two team mates between him and the goal line.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Offside position is based on the 2nd to last defender (2LD). It doesn't matter what field position that player is, only that the AR counts 2 players. The 2LD could be a back or a forward, or could be the goalkeeper.

It gets really confusing for the AR when the goalkeeper moves out so far that he is the 3rd to last defender. Then the ref has to keep count of 2 regular shirts.

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 25835