Offside: when it's a position and when it's an offence

1. The offside position

A player is in an offside position if, at the moment a teammate plays or touches the ball, they meet three conditions at once:

• They are in the opponents' half (the halfway line does not count as the opponents' half).
• Any part of their head, body or feet is nearer to the opponents' goal line than the ball.
• That same part is nearer to the goal line than the second-last opponent (usually the last defender, as the last one is normally the goalkeeper).

Arms and hands don't count when judging the position, neither the attacker's nor the defenders', goalkeepers included. Being level with the second-last opponent, or with the last two, is not offside.

2. Being in position is not an offence

This is the key point: being in an offside position is not penalised in itself. There is only an offence if, at that moment, the player becomes actively involved in one of these ways:

• Interfering with play: playing or touching a ball passed or touched by a teammate.
• Interfering with an opponent: preventing them from playing the ball by clearly obstructing their line of vision, challenging them for the ball, attempting to play a ball nearby when this impacts on them, or making an obvious action that clearly affects their ability to play the ball.
• Gaining an advantage: playing a ball that rebounds or is deflected off a goalpost, the crossbar, a match official or an opponent, or after a deliberate save by an opponent.

3. When there can be no offside

There is no offence if the player receives the ball directly from a goal kick, a throw-in or a corner kick. Nor if the ball reaches them after an opponent has deliberately played it (for example, a pass or clearance that goes wrong), unless it was a deliberate save to stop a goal.

The difference between a deliberate play and a deflection matters: a rebound or a reflex touch off a defender doesn't "reset" the attacker's position; a controlled pass or clearance, even a poor one, does.

4. A foul and offside in the same move

When offside and a foul happen in the same action, the order matters. If the defender commits the foul before the attacker in an offside position plays, attempts to play or challenges for the ball, the foul is penalised. If the attacker was already challenging for the ball, the offside offence came first.

5. How play restarts

With an indirect free kick to the defending team where the offence occurred, even if that is in the offender's own half.

Common mistakes

• Flagging the position without waiting to see whether the player becomes involved.
• Counting the attacker's arm when judging the position.
• Thinking any touch by a defender cancels offside: only a deliberate play does.