Question Number: 26906

Law 11 - Offside 10/15/2012

RE: Professional

SAMEEM of Suva, Fiji asks...

If two players happen to be in an offside position after a kick is taken and the ball is deflected/rebounds onto the path of these players by the keeper will they still be offside.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Yes, that is the 3rd way of becoming offside, 'gaining an advantage'. The other two are interfering with play and interfering with an opponent. Gaining an advantage is actually a subset of interfering with play; I presume the writers of the Laws specified it just so it is clear that rebounds and deflections do not change offside considerations.

It is interesting that 2 questions on this subject came in from two different parts of the world at almost the same time. Please see #26905 for more information.

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Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Sameem
There are only three way that offside can be reset and they are
1. The ball goes out play
2. The opponents gain complete control of the ball
3. A player in an onside position begins a new phase of play.
A rebound / deflection by an opponent does not reset offside.

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Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

The only question I have, and this is probably semantics, is you say 2 players in an offside position 'after' a kick is taken. The proper way of phrasing this would be; 2 players in an offside position 'when' the kick is taken. It doesn't matter where the players are after the kick is taken.

As I said, probably semantics

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