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How to Know Offside in Football – The Offside Rule in Football: Well Explained

Do you want to get tips on How to Know Offside in Football? If you are then you are going to know all about it. Today’s topic is all about sports because there are many out there who are interested in sports but don’t know many sports rules.

How to Know Offside in Football
How to Know Offside in Football

I am going to be emphasizing on one of the rules Offside. So if you want to know what this is all about then you should just read on and don’t skip, cause if you do then you might miss a lot of information.

How to Know Offside in Football

Now before I proceed I will like to tell you what offside actually is  for a better understanding. Offside is actually one of the laws in association football that is codified in Law 11 of the Laws of the Game. 

The law simply states that a player is in an offside position if any of their body parts, except the hands and arms, are in the opponents’ half of the pitch, and then closer to the opponents’ goal line than both the ball and also the second-last opponent (the last opponent is usually, but not necessarily, the goalkeeper).

Being in an offside position is actually not an offence in itself, but a player that is so positioned when the ball is played by a teammate can actually be judged guilty of an offside offence if they receive the ball or will otherwise become “involved in active play”, will “interfere with an opponent”, or will simply “gain an advantage” by being in that position. Offside is often considered as one of the most difficult aspects to understand of sport.

How to Know Offside

In football or soccer, a player is then offside if the ball is simply passed to them with fewer than two opposing players (this also includes the goalkeeper) between them and the goal line.

It’s also a critical rule that actually leads to disallowed goals, but it can even be tough for referees to simply make the right decision in real-time, and the limitations of VAR (Video Assistant Referee) technology also have only added to the controversy.

Currently, VAR are also involved in analyzing a video feed and also drawing lines on the pitch to simply confirm whether players are actually offside or not, but the footage does not always have the resolution or the frame rate to just determine the exact time or moment the ball leaves a player’s foot, for instance.

It can simply be frustrating to then watch a match and also wait multiple minutes after a seemingly legitimate goal to then find out whether it will be canceled out.

VAR Has a Positive Impact on Football

“VAR has also had a very positive impact in football and the number of major mistakes is now also reduced, but there are some areas where it can also be improved – and offside is also one of them,” FIFA”s chief refereeing officer Pierluigi Collina tells the BBC.

“We are actually aware the process to check offsides can simply take longer [than other decisions], especially when it is also very tight. We are also aware that the positioning of the lines may not even be 100-percent accurate.”

The Offside Rule in Football: Well Explained

Just put, the offside rule mandates that during a move, an attacking player, when in the opposition half, must then have at least two opposition players, including the goalkeeper, between him and the opposition goal when a pass is actually being played to him.

In early days, an attacking player just needed to simply have at least three defending team players between him and the opposition goal to then avoid being offside, but that rule has simply been tweaked over the years.

For better understanding , we will then create and also name the teams and the players. Let’s just consider that Team A is playing against Team B.

The Offside Rule in Football

Now Player A – The player from Team A is the one playing the pass

Also, Player B – The player from Team A towards whom the pass is played

Then Player C – The Team B player (almost always the goalkeeper) nearest to Team Y’s goal

And Player D – The second-closest Team B player to Team Y’s goal

At the needed moment the ball simply leaves Player A’s feet or head during the pass, Player B’s entire body, arms and also legs included, cannot then be beyond Player D. In other words, Player B simply needs to have both Player C and also Player D between himself and Team Y’s goal.

If Player B does not meet the above condition, he is then deemed or considered to be in an offside position.

The player beyond the white line is also in an offside position.

The player beyond the white line is also in an offside position.

Now, simply being in an offside position is actually not considered an offence. But if Player B then touches the ball or interferes with the play from the offside position, the game is then stopped and Team Y is actually awarded a free-kick.

However, there are also certain exceptions. If Player B is in an offside position in his (Team X’s) own half when Player A then plays the pass, it’s simply not an offence and the play continues.

A player also cannot be penalized for being offside from a throw-in but the offside law applies during free kicks and even corner kicks.

Also, if Player A is then passing the ball backwards (also called cutting the ball back) while he is actually closer to Team Y’s goal than Player B, it is not an offside offence even if Player B is in an offside position.

When a player is then not in an offside position, he is actually considered to be onside

VAR Offside Calls

Offsides are also generally signaled by the linesmen – two assistants of the referee observing the play from the sidelines in each half of the pitch. Linesmen are the one that hold a flag over or in front of them to actually signal an offside offence.

In a lot of cases, the difference between a player being offside or onside is actually very thin. With millimetres separating the two, offside calls simply have been historically prone to human error. But football nowadays now uses technology to aid in correct decision making.

However, since the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was then introduced in the year 2016, there simply has been a second check on offside calls leading to goals.

Offside Calls

VAR is also basically an additional match official sitting in front of a video screen who can then review the on-pitch match officials’ decisions when necessary.

Linesmen often do refrain from signaling offsides during moves with goal-scoring potential. If a goal is scored, the linesman can then signal for offside and also deem it (the goal) null and even void.

The VAR also checks the linesman’s call using video footage and technology. VAR can even overturn the decision and also re-award the goal if replays suggest that the linesman was wrong.

VAR even checks for any offsides after every goal. If an offside offence missed by the linesman is then seen or caught by the VAR during a re-check, the goal will be cancelled.

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