Question Number: 27879

Law 11 - Offside 10/12/2013

RE: Under 17

Sergio of Belmont, CA USA asks...

A1 is taking a corner kick from AR1 side. The corner kick is deflected off the keeper then received by A2 in offside position who then kicks the ball in to the goal.

Goal or no Goal?

Offside offence or no offside offence?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Sergio
Goal. A player cannot be offside directly from a corner kick.
As the only player to touch the ball after the kick is an opponent then there still cannot be any offside. If the touch / deflection was from a team mate then offside would apply.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Can't be offside directly from a corner as is stated in Law 11.

'Directly' refers to the number of attacking touches. To make it easier, for the purposes of offside pretend it's not an attacker putting the ball into play. So it's not until the first touch by an attacker that you're looking at offside possibilities of the OTHER attackers.

Furthermore, offside is always judged from when the last attacker touched the ball - while it's possible, it's generally unlikely that anybody is in an offside position when the ball is in the corner arc.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Hi Sergio. I see you are still confused by the use of the word 'directly' in Law 11. As stated previously, the word doesn't even have to be in Law 11 as it changes nothing. It is there to remind us if the ball touches a TEAMMATE on it's way to an attacker, offside resets. The ball touching the keeper changes nothing as far as offside is concerned since this was a corner kick and attackers cannot be penalized for offside on a corner kick regardless of position.

Had this been during open play or at a free kick and the attacker was in an offside position when the ball was played by a teammate, he would have been penalized for gaining an advantage by being in an offside position and the goal called off as the keeper never controlled the ball