Question Number: 26564

Law 11 - Offside 7/21/2012

RE: Competitive Adult

Amy Lloyd of Santa Cruz, California USofA asks...

In essence, this is an inquiry about - can one be offside on a penalty kick scenario?

In a recent tourney, the referee awarded a penalty kick to the blue team during regulation play. Blue #7 was identified as the kicker and kicked the ball 1 yard to left and forward where Blue #17 rushed from beyond the PA and chipped the ball toward the right side of goal area where Blue #7 had moved who tapped the ball into goal. A cheeky play that caught the defense flat-footed, literally.

Referee was square to the field and saw Blue #7 was forward of the ball before it was chipped by Blue#17, and signalled no goal, offside, indirect kick coming out.

Was this a legal restart?

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

This is NOT an inquiry can one be offside on a penalty kick where the answer is a resounding no!

In your scenario, the penalty kick has been taken and was over when Blue 17 touched the ball. Blue 7 was ahead of the ball but was he also ahead of the next to last opponent? If so, yes, offside. If not, then Blue 7 was not in an offside position when Blue 17 played him the ball so no offside.

In answer to your last question as to the restart, at the taking of a penalty kick (the restart in this case), the ball must be kicked forward which it was by Blue 7. This was a legal restart

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Amy
Offside does apply at a penalty kick. However the referee should not allow any player to stand ahead of the ball outside the penalty area which is an offside position.That rarely if ever happens though.
However once the ball is put into play at the penalty kick, offside would then apply as normal in open play. As Blue#17 did not encroach before the kick was taken and she was behind the ball whne kicked by Blue #7 then play would be allowed to continue as there was no possible offence. However the penalty taker Blue #7 had to ensure that she was not in an offside position on any subsequent play and the only way that she could do that was to stay behind the ball.
What has happened here in your scenario is that Blue#7 moved ahead of the ball and when she touched the ball that was played to her by Blue#17 she was interfering with play in an offside position.
Here is one of the first examples of this penalty kick. Note that the scorer stays behind the ball until it is played. Jesper Olsen dribbles the ball to the 6 yard line and the scorer Johan Cruyff is one yard short of the line in good view of the referee and in a clear onside position.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDoqv74egBM

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Offside is not specifically exempted at a penalty kick (as it is for goal kicks, corner kicks and throw-ins). However if everyone is in the proper position when the referee whistles for the kick to be taken, no one will be in an offside position. That's because Law 14 requires everyone but the kicker and goalkeeper to be outside the penalty area *AND* behind the ball.

In your situation however, the penalty kick was over and then the ball was again passed to a player who was in an offside position. Therefore the offside call was correct, and the restart is an indirect free kick outbound.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Amy,

I think you're looking at it the wrong way by referring to this as a 'penalty kick scenario'. Let me explain:

Don't forget that once the ball has been kicked forwards at a penalty kick, it is in play (of course, we're assuming that no players have encroached or made any other infringement).

In this scenario, a teammate then took control of the ball. By now, the penalty kick is over. It didn't go in, and we're now looking at a new phase of general play.

So, now you need to get back into 'general play' mode and forget about the penalty kick.

Take the penalty kick out of the equation, and we have a simple case of one attacker in an offside position who received the ball from a teammate.