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- Soccer Referee Questions on Soccer Rules
WELCOME to AskTheRef.com, a Soccer Law/Rules Question & Answer site!
Operating since October 11, 1999, that is 25 years as an independent, FREE, public service site. Dedicated to personally answering your questions regarding any Professional or Grassroots, FIFA, College, High school, or Youth soccer game situation. To ask a question simply click on Ask the Ref in the menu bar, post your question!
Please understand, we are comprised of strictly volunteers, thus lack the time required to review or alter the hundreds of thousands of previous questions & answers. The LOTG /RULES are constantly being tweaked, reevaluated and rewritten each year, often rendering previous answers as incorrect, partially true and/or portions no longer applicable! Our answers can only coincide within the changing LOTG/RULES time/frame of the date a question was asked! We feel it is essential you review & read the latest version of the always changing Laws/Rules of the Game.
The IFAB 2024 - 2025 LOTG Laws of the Game can be viewed here:
https://www.theifab.com/
The USA Highschool rules can be viewed here:
https://nfhs.org/nfhs-for-you/officials/
The NCAA rules can be viewed here:
Soccer Rules of the Game - NCAA.org
Those who have ideas or articles please feel free to contact the editor Richard Dawson at mrref@asktheref.com with suggestions. There are no costs involved to ask or have us respond to a question but we are not upset if you wished to donate or sponsor on the site as in todays world it is difficult to operate independently.
 You Call It!
After two years and many request - You Call It is back! Now it's your turn to test your knowledge in a scenario created by our panel of referees. If your answer is spot on we will publish it on our site! Good luck click here!
Law 11 - Offside 1/19/2025Zluvka of Liberec, Liberec Region Czech Republic asks...Hi, it's simple. The referee whistles a foul. He awards RC for DOGSO. VAR sees that the fouled player was in an offside position (not offside). How will VAR deal with it? Will VAR intervene? VAR probably should. What will the restart be like? Probably hard IDFK for offside. Thank you, Zluvka...
Read The Full Q & A Law 11 - Offside 1/17/2025Zluvka of Liberec, Liberec Region Czech Republic asks...Hi, how would this hypothetical situation be handled if the player was only in an offside position and not in an offside position? I mean the solution via VAR. Thank you, Zluvka...
Read The Full Q & A Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 1/16/2025Stewart of Livermore, California United States asks...Say a ball last touched by an attacker roles slowly towards the goalkeeper, with nobody nearby. The goalkeeper bends down and easily stops the ball with their hands inside the penalty area and away from the goal. After a few seconds the keeper then bends down and picks it up. Does it make a difference if the goalkeeper dribbled the ball with their feet after stopping it with their hands, and then picked it up? What if they dribbled the ball outside the penalty area and then dribbled it back in?...
Read The Full Q & A Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 1/16/2025RE: College Tristan Zhang of Beijing, Beijing China asks...Dear sirs:
I am a little bit confused by a part of Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct which says
'An indirect free kick is awarded if a goalkeeper, inside their penalty area,
commits any of the following offences:
touches the ball with the hand/arm, unless the goalkeeper has clearly kicked or attempted to kick the ball to release it into play, after:
• it has been deliberately kicked to the goalkeeper by a team-mate
• receiving it directly from a throw-in taken by a team-mate '.
I found out that this sentence was changed in 2019/2020, adding 'unless the goalkeeper has clearly kicked or attempted to kick the ball to release it into play'.
So for the following scenarios, is it a foul or not?...
Read The Full Q & A Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 1/13/2025RE: Rec Under 18 Jose of Chicago, Illinois USA asks...Can you clarify how the LOTG address the interaction between an attacking player and a GK on a corner kick? In two recent examples, a player placed his body in front of the GK, during a CK, the ball enters the goal, and one ref disallows the goal calling interference while another ref allows the goal claiming that, as long as both attacking player and GK are not grabbing/pushing each other, both have the same right to position their bodies wherever they want. I've seen refs stopping play before the CK to alert players not to touch the GK, and I've seen GK pushing players around as they jostle for position before and during a CK. Can you help?...
Read The Full Q & A Mechanics 1/12/2025Zluvka of Liberec, Liberec Region Czech Republic asks...Hi, can VAR intervene if a foul occurs during a restart before the ball is in play (such as a corner or free kick) and this foul has an impact on a goal being scored? Or is this completely ruled out because the ball was not in play? It seems to me that it would be in the spirit of the game to intervene. Thank you, Zluvka....
Read The Full Q & A Law 14 - The Penalty kick 1/11/2025David Howard of WETHERBY West Yorkshire , United Kingdom asks...Thanks for the answers.
Just a couple of follow ups if I may.
Q3. At the point where a penalty is taken, can someone be offside?
Q1. It is a really muddy day. Just the goalkeeper and the centre forward are left chasing a long ball that is about to go in the goal, when it sticks in the mud. However due to the conditions they both slide over the line into the back of the net. The centre forward is 1st to get up but is held down by the goalkeeper which allows his defender to get back and clear the ball. Is it a penalty?
...
Read The Full Q & A Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 1/7/2025RE: Adult Carl of Liverpool , UK asks...Is it a penalty if a defender lying down behind a free kick wall accidentally trips up an attacker attempting to run on to a loose ball or save after the free kick is taken...
Read The Full Q & A Mechanics 1/7/2025Petr of Prague, Czech Republic Czech Republic asks...Thanks. It's getting funny, I admit. :-) But I was referring to the offside line that technology draws.
Law 11
A player is in an offside position if:
ANY PART OF THE HEAD, body or feet is nearer to the opponents’ goal line than
both the ball and the second-last opponent
Are hair also part of the head? (very important for Fellaini) That technology has players without hair and focuses on a lot of points.
https://inside.fifa.com/technical/football-technology/football-technologies-and-innovations-at-the-fifa-world-cup-2022/semi-automated-offside-technology
Maybe the referee could then solve it manually with VAR. Fellaini's hair puts him offside quite easily, even though his...
Read The Full Q & A Law 11 - Offside 1/6/2025Petr of Prague, Czech Republic Czech Republic asks...Hello
one more question, maybe a bit strange please.
Does hair count as part of the head for offside purposes? For example, for a player like Fellaini.
Until now, I was sure that hair was part of the head. :-)
However, semiautomated-offside technology makes 3D models without hair and apparently doesn't even focus on them.
Thank you very much!...
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