Where was the player when a team-mate last played the ball?
Every question in this scenario
The Offside investigation scenario asks 10 questions and can reach 18 decisions. A walk answers only the ones its own answers lead to. This is the whole set, for reference and for revision.
1Was the player in the opponents' half when a team-mate last played the ball?
Any part of the head, body or feet counts. The halfway line itself is not the opponents' half.
Answers: Yes · No
2Was anyone off the field of play, or standing inside the goal, at that moment?
Law 11 answers this before the line is drawn, because a player who has left the field is still counted. Almost every incident is the first option.
Answers: No, every player was on the field of play · A defender had left the field without permission · The attacker had stepped or stayed off the field · An attacker stood still inside the goal as the ball entered
3Was the player nearer the goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent?
Level with the second-last or last two opponents is not offside, and hands and arms do not count. Straight from a throw-in, goal kick or corner kick, either answer is no offence.
Answers: Yes · No
4Did the ball come to the player directly from a throw-in, goal kick, or corner kick?
Answers: Yes · No
5Before this player touched the ball or affected an opponent, what touched it?
Only what happened after the team-mate played it counts. A save is stopping, or trying to stop, a ball going into or very close to the goal.
Answers: Nothing: it came straight from the team-mate · It rebounded off the goalpost, crossbar or a match official · An opponent saved it, or tried to · An opponent deliberately handled it · An opponent played or touched it some other way
6What did the player in the offside position do?
If the player was fouled, pick that, whatever else they did. Challenging is contesting the ball with an opponent; a close ball needs no contest, only an effect on one.
Answers: Touched or played the ball · Challenged an opponent for the ball · Clearly tried to play a close ball, affecting an opponent · Clearly blocked an opponent's view of the ball · Was in the way of an opponent moving towards the ball · Some other obvious action that clearly affected an opponent · Was fouled by an opponent · None of these
7Did the player move into the opponent's way, or were they simply in it?
Being in the way of an opponent is not the same as moving into the way of an opponent. Moving in to block their progress is penalised under Law 12, not as offside.
Answers: Moved into the opponent's way and blocked their progress · In the way, and it affected their play or challenge for it · In the way, but their play or challenge was unaffected
8When was the player fouled?
Law 11 penalises whichever offence came first, and tells them apart by what the player was already doing.
Answers: Before playing, trying to play or challenging for the ball · While already playing, trying to play or challenging for it
9After that, did the player play the ball or interfere with an opponent?
Interfering means challenging an opponent for the ball, blocking their view of it, clearly trying to play a close ball that affects them, or another obvious action that does.
Answers: Yes · No
10Do the indicators point to the opponent being in control of the ball?
Control means the opponent could pass it, gain possession or clear it, and a pass or clearance that went wrong still counts. The indicators are weighed, not a checklist.
Answers: Yes · No
Every decision it can reach
Each one is where a walk ends, with the reasoning it prints. The clause behind a decision is cited on the decision itself, which you reach by walking to it.
Exempt: cannot be offside from this restart
There is no offside offence if a player receives the ball directly from a goal kick, a throw-in, or a corner kick. This applies wherever the player is standing when the restart is taken.
Offside offence: interfering with play
The player was in an offside position and played or touched a ball passed or touched by a teammate. An indirect free kick is awarded where the offence occurred, including if that is in the player's own half.
Offside offence: interfering with an opponent
The player was in an offside position and interfered with an opponent, by challenging for the ball, by clearly obstructing their line of vision, or by clearly attempting to play a close ball in a way that impacted them. An indirect free kick is awarded where the offence occurred.
Not offside: this one is punished under Law 12
Law 11 sends this case away from itself. Standing in an offside position and being in the way is judged under Law 11, but moving into the way of an opponent and impeding their progress is an impeding offence and is penalised under Law 12, which distinguishes being in the way of an opponent from moving into the way. Impeding with contact is a direct free kick, and a penalty kick if it happened in the offender's penalty area; impeding with no contact at all is an indirect free kick.
Offside offence: in the way of an opponent
A player moving from, or standing in, an offside position who is in the way of an opponent and interferes with that opponent's movement towards the ball commits an offside offence, but only where it impacts the opponent's ability to play or challenge for the ball. An indirect free kick is awarded where the offence occurred.
No offside offence: in the way, but it changed nothing
A player moving from, or standing in, an offside position who is in the way of an opponent and interferes with that opponent's movement towards the ball commits an offside offence only where it impacts the opponent's ability to play or challenge for the ball. Where it does not, there is no offence: being in an offside position is not in itself an offence, and Law 11 asks for involvement in active play rather than for proximity. Play continues.
Offside offence: impacted an opponent
The player was in an offside position and made an obvious action that clearly impacted an opponent's ability to play the ball. That is interfering with an opponent even without touching the ball. An indirect free kick is awarded where the offence occurred.
The foul is penalised: it came first
A player in an offside position who is moving towards the ball with the intention of playing it and is fouled before playing or attempting to play the ball, or challenging an opponent for it, has been fouled before any offside offence existed. The foul is what is penalised, which is a free kick to the attacking team, and a penalty kick if it was a direct free kick offence committed in the defenders' own penalty area. An indirect free kick offence, playing in a dangerous manner being the one that arises here, stays an indirect free kick inside the penalty area as it is anywhere else.
Offside offence: it came before the foul
Where the offence is committed against a player in an offside position who is already playing or attempting to play the ball, or challenging an opponent for it, the offside offence has already happened and is what is penalised. The restart is an indirect free kick to the defending team where the offside offence occurred, rather than a free kick for the foul. That decides which offence the restart comes from. Ruleside reads the challenge's own card as still following, a reckless one a caution and one with excessive force a sending-off, since Law 11 prints nothing about the card.
No offside offence: position alone is not enough
The player was in an offside position but did not touch the ball, did not challenge or obstruct an opponent, and made no obvious action impacting an opponent's ability to play. It is not an offence to be in an offside position, and a rebound, deflection or save on the way changes nothing by itself: gaining an advantage also needs the player to play the ball or interfere with an opponent. The goal or play stands.
Offside offence: gaining an advantage
The player was in an offside position when a teammate last played the ball, the ball then rebounded or deflected off a goalpost, crossbar, match official or opponent, or was deliberately saved by an opponent, and the player then played it or interfered with an opponent. That is gaining an advantage from an offside position. An indirect free kick is awarded. An opponent's touch is a deflection rather than a deliberate play where the indicators of control are absent. A foul on the player after that does not change the restart, because the offside offence came first.
No offside offence: an opponent deliberately handled it
A player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent who deliberately played it, including by deliberate handball, is not considered to have gained an advantage. The control indicators do not decide this one: Law 11 defines deliberate play as control with the possibility of passing, gaining possession or clearing, and excludes deliberate handball from that definition in the same breath, so a handball resets the position whether or not the handler had control, a clear view or time to coordinate. The one exception is a deliberate save. A save is stopping, or trying to stop, a ball going into or very close to the goal with any part of the body except the hands and arms, unless it is the goalkeeper inside their own penalty area, so an outfielder who handles has by definition not made one and a goalkeeper who parries inside the area has. The handball is still a Law 12 offence and is punished as one.
No offside offence: opponent deliberately played the ball
The ball reached the player because an opponent deliberately played it, and a deliberate play by an opponent means the attacker is not considered to have gained an advantage. This holds even where the opponent's pass or clearance was inaccurate or unsuccessful. A deliberate save is the exception and does not reset it.
Not in an offside position: no offside possible
The player was not nearer to the opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent when a teammate last played it. Level with the second-last opponent, or level with the last two opponents, is not an offside position. No offside offence can exist from here.
Count the defender: they are treated as on the goal line or touchline
A defending player who leaves the field of play without the referee's permission is still counted for offside, as being on the goal line or touchline, until the next stoppage in play or until the defending team has played the ball towards the halfway line and it is outside its penalty area. Draw the line with that player included and answer the position question again. Including them can only put the second-last opponent nearer their own goal line, so a defender cannot step off the field to push the line upfield, and one who left deliberately must be cautioned when the ball is next out of play.
The attacker counts as on the goal line
An attacking player may step or stay off the field of play so as not to be involved in active play. If they re-enter from the goal line and become involved before the next stoppage in play, or before the defending team has played the ball towards the halfway line and it is outside its penalty area, they are treated as positioned on the goal line for offside. A player who deliberately leaves the field and re-enters without the referee's permission, is not penalised for offside and gains an advantage must be cautioned.
Standing still in the goal is not itself an offence: answer the rest
If an attacking player remains stationary between the goalposts and inside the goal as the ball enters, a goal must be awarded unless that player commits an offside offence or a Law 12 offence, in which case play restarts with an indirect or a direct free kick. So standing there takes nothing away by itself, and the two things that would are decided elsewhere: the offside offence by the rest of this tree, which you should now walk with that player included, and the Law 12 offence in the fouls tree. Answer the position question next.
Not offside: player was in their own half
A player in their own half cannot be in an offside position, whatever the defenders are doing. This matters against a very high defensive line, where an attacker can be nearer the goal line than the second-last opponent and still be onside because they have not crossed the halfway line. The halfway line itself does not count as the opponents' half.