Last July, football's lawmakers of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) have approved an alteration of Law 11 dealing with offside. Several guidelines and exemplary videos were necessarily given to the national associations and referee panels in order to instruct referees and particularly assistant referees properly in a worldwide dimension. This blog tried to make the changes comprehensibly explained as well. But how did the officials put the new guidelines into praxis? In many situations, the new offside rule was well applied by the assistant referees at the highest level. But some mistakes were and are still being made, also on UEFA level, which shows that this topic demands continuous attention. The following two videos are again supposed to emphasize and internalize a specific form of the new offside rule.
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| Tarik Ongun taking a correct offside position © The Third Team |
Offside means being closer to the goal-line than the second last defender (some other restrictions do not have to be mentioned in this specific analysis). Some criteria is needed to be checked when raising the flag for offside:
Interfering with... (old version)
- “interfering with play” means playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a team-mate.
- “interfering with an opponent” means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or movement or making a gesture or movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent.
Interfering with... (new version)
- “interfering with play” means playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a team-mate.
- “interfering with an opponent” means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or movement or challenging an opponent for the ball.
- “interfering with an opponent” means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or movement or making a gesture or movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent.
Interfering with... (new version)
- “interfering with play” means playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a team-mate.
- “interfering with an opponent” means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or movement or challenging an opponent for the ball.
Gaining an advantage (old version)
Gaining an advantage (new version)
- “Gaining an advantage by being in that position” means playing a ball…
- - That rebounds or is deflected to him off the goal post, crossbar or an opponent having been in an offside position.
- - That rebounds, is deflected or is played to him from a deliberate save by an opponent having been in an offside position.
- - A player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent, who deliberately plays the ball (except from a deliberate save), is not considered to have gained an advantage.
I am going to analyze a situation that occurred in the Champions League match between Olympique Marseille and SSC Napoli. Please go to video minute 28:15 if this automatically starting link does not work appropiately.
Because of the low quality of the video, you can find screenshots (first move in the rows and then in the columns) edited with different colors that will be used in the analysis here:
As you have hopefully seen in either the video or the screenshots, the blue team (Napoli) have started a very promising attack on Marseille's goal. A defensive player has made a long pass into the direction of two attackers (#9 and #14), who had been about to move apart from their defending opponents respectively. The attempt was stopped by an offside flag of assistant referee 1.
First question: Was one of the attackers or were even both of them in an offside position in the sense of being closer to the goal-line than the second last defender?
No. The first screenshot shows that both attackers #9 and especially #14 were in an onside position, while their team-mate touched the ball to pass it. The screenshots naturally withhold the high pace of the action. Some parts of a second after the pass had been executed, the attacker at the bottom of the screenshot (Higuaín) was closer to the goal-line than the second last defender. Our analysis could end here, as the flag was undoubtfully wrong. But in this case there would not be any added value..
Second question: Let's imagine that #9 had been slightly closer to the goal-line than the second last defender. #14 was obviously onside for almost a metre. Would the flag have been correct in this scenario?
Maybe. It depends on the interpretation of the referee and assistant referee. Even if #9 had been in an offside position, one would have had to gauge whether he was interfering with play or an opponent at all. The green marked attacker had been far away from getting the ball but then moved towards the bouncing ball. Having recognized that his team-mate #14 would have a better chance to get and process the ball and maybe even score a goal than himself, he stopped his run and did not interfere with play. Dries Mertens (#14) took the ball and would have appeared freely in front of the goalkeeper. #9 neither touched the ball nor was in an absolute playing distance. There was more than a metre between him and the ball. He did not challenge an opponent for the ball either. The only opportunity to justify an offside flag would be a clear obstruction of the opponents' line of vision. The goalkeeper was surely not influenced by #9, but maybe the defender (white jersey) who was closest to the two attackers. One can have different ideas about this matter, personally, I think that #9 did not interfere with any opponent despite his original movement towards the ball. But this alone is not enough for active offside any longer. So, with a better wait-and-see technique, the assistant referee could have recognized that #9 would not interfere with play, would not interfere with an opponent and did not gain an advantage from being in that position in the sense of Law 11. However, the most decisive circumstance is still to come now:
Third question: Was offside possible in this situation at all?
No. The defensive player surrounded by a red circle in the second screenshot had touched the ball before the attacker could receive it. The ball being touched by a defender during a pass does however not necessarily mean that offside is impossible. Only if the defender makes a deliberate save (commonly interpreted as blocking a shot on goal) or if the touch occurs unwittingly, i.e. if the ball reaches an attacker after a deflection from a defender, the offside rule is still effective. The attacker(s) receiving the ball from a deliberate save or deflection, while being closer to the goal-line than the second last defender, are to be deemed as punishable of "active" offside.
In the situation presented, this was however not the case. The assistant referees have to grasp the intention of the defender. The defender did not deflect the ball in this case. He actively moved towards the ball and carted out a foot in order to deliberately play the ball. This mere fact precludes offside, regardless whether the defender succeeds in clearing the ball by deliberately playing it or not. #9 and #14 could have been 10 metres closer to the goal-line than the second last defender, it would not have changed anything; due to the defender deliberately playing the ball, they would have been in a legal position.
At this point, it becomes obvious that the new offside rule really differs from the old rule, where the distinction between a deflection and a defender really playing the ball was not that much stressed. Turkish assistant referee Bahattin Duran got an onside position wrong, which is an acceptable and comprehensible mistake. The bigger area to think about and to worry about rather is that he furthermore failed to apply the new offside rule properly. Apparently, this rule requires more clarification at UEFA seminars and needs more internalization in the assistant referees' minds that were used to deem players as punishable of offside in different scenarios for quite a long time. In the concrete case, referee Cüneyt Çakır could have overruled his assistant referee by recognizing that the deliberate action of the defender excluded an offside flag. Thus, it is also a matter of teamwork to prepare better for such situations.
Please also check another situation where the new offside rule was perfectly applied by assistant referee Renato Faverani (maybe upon teamwork with Tagliavento) in the Champions League match between Schalke 04 and FC Basel (0:55 video minute):
In addition, there was an incident in the Italian Cup Round of 16 in Napoli, which can function as a paramount example of how the new offside rule works as well (the decision concerned the question of whether an attacker challenged an opponent for the ball or not):
First question: Was one of the attackers or were even both of them in an offside position in the sense of being closer to the goal-line than the second last defender?
No. The first screenshot shows that both attackers #9 and especially #14 were in an onside position, while their team-mate touched the ball to pass it. The screenshots naturally withhold the high pace of the action. Some parts of a second after the pass had been executed, the attacker at the bottom of the screenshot (Higuaín) was closer to the goal-line than the second last defender. Our analysis could end here, as the flag was undoubtfully wrong. But in this case there would not be any added value..
Second question: Let's imagine that #9 had been slightly closer to the goal-line than the second last defender. #14 was obviously onside for almost a metre. Would the flag have been correct in this scenario?
Maybe. It depends on the interpretation of the referee and assistant referee. Even if #9 had been in an offside position, one would have had to gauge whether he was interfering with play or an opponent at all. The green marked attacker had been far away from getting the ball but then moved towards the bouncing ball. Having recognized that his team-mate #14 would have a better chance to get and process the ball and maybe even score a goal than himself, he stopped his run and did not interfere with play. Dries Mertens (#14) took the ball and would have appeared freely in front of the goalkeeper. #9 neither touched the ball nor was in an absolute playing distance. There was more than a metre between him and the ball. He did not challenge an opponent for the ball either. The only opportunity to justify an offside flag would be a clear obstruction of the opponents' line of vision. The goalkeeper was surely not influenced by #9, but maybe the defender (white jersey) who was closest to the two attackers. One can have different ideas about this matter, personally, I think that #9 did not interfere with any opponent despite his original movement towards the ball. But this alone is not enough for active offside any longer. So, with a better wait-and-see technique, the assistant referee could have recognized that #9 would not interfere with play, would not interfere with an opponent and did not gain an advantage from being in that position in the sense of Law 11. However, the most decisive circumstance is still to come now:
Third question: Was offside possible in this situation at all?
No. The defensive player surrounded by a red circle in the second screenshot had touched the ball before the attacker could receive it. The ball being touched by a defender during a pass does however not necessarily mean that offside is impossible. Only if the defender makes a deliberate save (commonly interpreted as blocking a shot on goal) or if the touch occurs unwittingly, i.e. if the ball reaches an attacker after a deflection from a defender, the offside rule is still effective. The attacker(s) receiving the ball from a deliberate save or deflection, while being closer to the goal-line than the second last defender, are to be deemed as punishable of "active" offside.
In the situation presented, this was however not the case. The assistant referees have to grasp the intention of the defender. The defender did not deflect the ball in this case. He actively moved towards the ball and carted out a foot in order to deliberately play the ball. This mere fact precludes offside, regardless whether the defender succeeds in clearing the ball by deliberately playing it or not. #9 and #14 could have been 10 metres closer to the goal-line than the second last defender, it would not have changed anything; due to the defender deliberately playing the ball, they would have been in a legal position.
At this point, it becomes obvious that the new offside rule really differs from the old rule, where the distinction between a deflection and a defender really playing the ball was not that much stressed. Turkish assistant referee Bahattin Duran got an onside position wrong, which is an acceptable and comprehensible mistake. The bigger area to think about and to worry about rather is that he furthermore failed to apply the new offside rule properly. Apparently, this rule requires more clarification at UEFA seminars and needs more internalization in the assistant referees' minds that were used to deem players as punishable of offside in different scenarios for quite a long time. In the concrete case, referee Cüneyt Çakır could have overruled his assistant referee by recognizing that the deliberate action of the defender excluded an offside flag. Thus, it is also a matter of teamwork to prepare better for such situations.
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| Renato Faverani perfectly interpreted the new rule © The Third Team |
Please also check another situation where the new offside rule was perfectly applied by assistant referee Renato Faverani (maybe upon teamwork with Tagliavento) in the Champions League match between Schalke 04 and FC Basel (0:55 video minute):
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