2. Offside offence
The provision as it is printed, and everything on Ruleside that turns on it.
A player in an offside position at the moment the ball is played or touched* by a team-mate is only penalised on becoming involved in active play by:
Verdicts that turn on it 6
Walk the tree to any of these and this clause is part of the answer.
- Offside offence: interfering with playoffside
- No offside offence: position alone is not enoughoffside
- Offside offence: interfering with an opponentoffside
- Offside offence: gaining an advantageoffside
- Offside offence: that was a deflection, not a deliberate playoffside
- Offside offence: impacted an opponentoffside
Explained in the rules library 5
The plain-language pages that build on this provision.
Applied in these incidents 3
Real decisions where this clause decided what should have happened.
Questions that ask it 6
Points in a walk where the reader is deciding this provision.
- Did the player touch or play a ball passed or touched by a teammate?offside
- Did the player challenge for the ball, or clearly block an opponent's view of it?offside
- Did the ball rebound or deflect off the frame, an official, an opponent, or a save?offside
- After that rebound or save, did the player play the ball or interfere with an opponent?offside
- Did the player clearly go for a ball close to them, and did that impact an opponent?offside
- Did the player make an obvious action that clearly impacted an opponent?offside
The Laws of the Game are published by The IFAB and quoted here for the purpose of explaining the decisions on this site. Ruleside is not affiliated with The IFAB or FIFA. Every clause of Offside that Ruleside cites.