Question Number: 27654

Law 11 - Offside 8/11/2013

Chris of Tampa, Florida USA asks...

My question is about being in an offside position when the ball is 'deliberately played by a defending player.' The word deliberately means with intention, and in many cases a defending player means to play a ball, but it goes in an unintended direction. So say a defender goes to head a ball away 'deliberately', but it goes backwards to an attacker in an offside position. Is the attacker onside because it was deliberately played by the defender, or offside because he gained an advantage by being in an offside position?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Chris
UEFA has advised it referees that in Law 11 the quality of the play does not matter as long as the player makes a deliberate act to play the ball by moving towards it.
In this clip the Blue player moves towards the ball and deliberately heads it backwards. This is not offside
http://garcia-aranda.com/law11uefa/deliberateplay02.html
UEFA has also opined that in a deflection the player does not move towards the ball and reacts to a ball that is coming towards him.
When I first looked at the Blue player clip I thought it was gaining an advantage however when I looked closer at it I saw that the Blue player tried to head the ball backwards towards his team mate who changed position, in which case it is not offside.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The US interpretation is that nothing has changed in the new terminology in Law 11. 'Deliberate play' means the ball was not mis-kicked. The referee should still look for possession and control of the ball by the defender because a deflection still does not make a player in offside position eligible to play the ball.

In deciding what is a deliberate play and what is a deflection, the age and skill level of the players will affect the result. At the professional level, almost everything is a deliberate play.