Question Number: 27479

Law 11 - Offside 5/25/2013

RE: Youth, high school, college, adult amateur Adult

Mike of Chicago , Illinois USS asks...

Law 11.

A player in an off side position is returning from his position however before he could the ball is played to a teammate near the touch line and draws a defender. The player who was in an off side position is now behind play but not by his own will. Teammate A plays a diagonal ball to B that scores. Should off side been called?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Offside position is considered each and every time a teammate plays or touches the ball. Your description sounds as if B was in an offside position but did not yet participate in play. Then A who was onside gets the ball, and by the time A passes the ball to B, B is no longer in an offside position. So there is no offside.

It doesn't matter how B became in an onside position. He could have moved there himself. Or as in this situation a teammate with the ball moved so that B was no longer offside.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mike
Offside is determined each time the ball is played / touched by a team mate of the team in possession / control of tha ball. These are what is called 'phases of play'. Each time the ball is played / touched that begins a new 'phase'
So Player B was initially in an offside position and had he met the final offside criteria by interfering with play or an opponent at that time, offside would have been called. However as he did not due to the ball going to Player A then there is no offence. Now the offside consideration starts again with another 'phase of play' and if Player B is in an offside position due to the movement of defenders then Player B will be called offside if he interferes with play or an opponent on a play from Player A. It makes no difference if it is the defenders that placed him there. Player B must adjust his position to stay onside.
Team that use the offside 'trap' do this all the time and opponents must constantly adjust positions to stay onside and / or come up with plays to deal with this tactic such as dribbling, finding the player in an onside position etc.
Now in your scenario if Player B is level or behind the ball the moment it is played by Player A there is no offside as he is not in an offside position. It makes no difference if he came from an offside position as long as at the moment the ball is played he is onside.
See Slide 32 of the attached
http://www.fifa.com/lotg/football/en/flash/start.html

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Is the offside positioned player B? If so, he became actively involved in play by interfering with play the instant he touched the ball. If the offside positioned player is someone else, you only call offside if he does something that makes him become actively involved in play