Offside rule
law in association football From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
law in association football From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The offside rule is one of the oldest football rules, but is still a much discussed rule. This is probably because of the relatively complicated set of provisions provided by the sport's law-making body, the IFAB for deciding if a player in an offside position is actually guilty of an offside offence by becoming involved in active play. It can also be a difficult decision for the referee or assistant referee to make as they need to watch the ball, the player playing the ball and also the attacker who is seeking to receive the ball at the same time.
Offside is an offence committed by the team which has the ball and is punished with an indirect free kick. It is a common misconception that the ball must be played forward for an offside offence to be committed. This is incorrect however, as an offside offence is related to the position of the player in relation to the last two opponents, the ball and the opponent's goal line rather than the direction the ball is played. If the player is closer to the opponent's goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent when it is played by a team mate, she or he is in an offside position.
But there are some exceptions:
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.