Question Number: 26901

Law 11 - Offside 10/11/2012

RE: Rec Under 13

Dave of KC, Missouri USA asks...

Attacker A1 has the ball and A2 is thirty yards ahead of A1 but both are onside. A1 kicks the ball down field behind the defenders. To stay onside, does the ball need to be in front of A2 before he makes his run past the defender or can he start as soon as the the ball is kicked?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Dave
The art of staying is onside is to move from the onside position after the ball has been played by a team mate. If A2 is onside when the ball is played by A1 then he can then move to any position including behind the defenders and he will not be called offside.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

What matters is the position of A2 when the ball is kicked. If A2 is in his own half, even with the second last defender, or even with the ball when the ball is kicked, A2 is in onside position. He is fully eligible to play the ball no matter what happens next.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

All that matters is the position of the players at the moment the ball is touched by a teammate.

It's a key strategy in soccer to try and play a ball past the defence for attackers to run onto, but as long as the receiving attacker is in an onside position at the ball is last touched by a teammate, then no offence has occurred.