Offside rule explained: when a player is offside

Offside is Law 11 of the Laws of the Game, the reason an attacker cannot simply wait beside the opponents' goal. It has two halves that are easy to mix up: being in an offside position, which is allowed, and committing an offside offence, which is not. What follows is based on the 2026/27 text of the IFAB, the body that writes the laws.

When is a player in an offside position?

The law opens with the sentence most often forgotten: it is not an offence to be in an offside position. A player is in one when part of their head, body or feet is in the opponents' half, not counting the halfway line, and part of their head, body or feet is nearer to the opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent.

So nobody in their own half or behind the ball is in an offside position. The second-last opponent is usually the last outfield defender, but if the goalkeeper has come out, it can be another outfield player.

What counts is where the player is when a team-mate plays or touches the ball (the first point of contact, or the moment of release when a goalkeeper throws it), not where they are when it arrives.

Which parts of the body count?

The head, the body and the feet. The hands and arms of every player, goalkeepers included, are ignored, and for offside the arm begins at the bottom of the armpit. A shoulder can put a player offside; a hand cannot.

Is level with the last defender onside?

Yes. A player is not in an offside position if level with the second-last opponent, or with the last two opponents. Only being nearer to the goal line counts.

When does offside become an offence?

A player in an offside position when a team-mate plays or touches the ball is penalised only for becoming involved in active play, in one of three ways:

Interfering with play: playing or touching a ball passed or touched by a team-mate.

Interfering with an opponent: clearly blocking an opponent's line of vision, challenging them for the ball, clearly attempting to play a ball that is close when this affects an opponent, or an obvious action that clearly affects an opponent's ability to play the ball. In an IFAB example, an attacker in an offside position jumps for a free kick and misses, but the jump confuses the goalkeeper and the ball goes in. That is offside.

Gaining an advantage: playing the ball, or interfering with an opponent, after it has rebounded or been deflected off the post, the crossbar, a match official or an opponent, or after an opponent has deliberately saved it. A saved shot that falls to a team-mate who was offside when it was struck is offside once they play it.

A player who stays out of it is not penalised. In another IFAB example, an attacker in an offside position ignores a through ball, an onside team-mate collects it and passes to the attacker, now onside, and the goal counts: a new phase of play has begun.

Is it offside if the ball comes off a defender?

Only if the defender did not play it deliberately. A ball simply deflected off an opponent changes nothing, and a player who was in an offside position and plays it is still offside. A ball an opponent played deliberately, including by a deliberate handball, does change it: the player who receives it has not gained an advantage. The exception is a deliberate save by any opponent, after which offside still applies.

Deliberate play means the player had control of the ball and could pass, win or clear it, even if the pass or clearance fails. The signs include a ball that travelled from distance and was not moving quickly, and a player who had time to coordinate their movement rather than stretch by instinct. A save is stopping, or trying to stop, a ball going into or very close to the goal.

So a defender who heads away a long pass under no pressure has played it deliberately, and an attacker who was offside can collect it and score. A defender who blocks a goal-bound shot with a leg has made a save, and the offside attacker cannot profit.

Can you be offside from a throw-in, goal kick or corner?

No. There is no offside offence if a player receives the ball directly from a goal kick, a throw-in or a corner kick. The word that matters is directly: in the IFAB's example, a short corner is passed back to the taker, who is by then in an offside position, and that is offside. Free kicks are not on the list.

What if a player steps off the pitch?

A defender who leaves the field without permission still counts as standing on the goal line or touchline, until the next stoppage or until their team has played the ball towards the halfway line and out of its penalty area, so stepping off cannot catch an attacker offside. An attacker may step off to show they are not involved; one who comes back from the goal line and joins in within that window counts as standing on it.

Where is the free kick for offside taken?

The other team gets an indirect free kick where the offence happened, which is where the player became involved, even if that is in their own half. An attacker in an offside position who runs back into their own half to collect a pass is penalised there.

How does VAR check offside?

Offside is not a separate category in the VAR protocol: it is reviewed as part of a goal or a penalty, when the attacking team was offside in the build-up. The referee's decision, including one based on an assistant's flag, changes only for a clear and obvious error.

Whether a player was in an offside position is a fact, usually settled by a VAR-only review, with the referee deciding on the VAR's information. Whether they interfered is a judgement, for which an on-field review at the pitchside monitor is appropriate.

That is also why an assistant sometimes keeps the flag down. Delaying it is allowed only in a very clear attacking situation, when a player is about to score or has a clear run towards the penalty area. The flag must then go up if the attacking team scores, wins a penalty, free kick, corner or throw-in, or still has the ball when the attack is over.

What is semi-automated offside technology?

From 2026/27, Law 5 says competitions may use technology to help the referee with offside, naming semi-automated offside technology. It is each competition's choice.

UEFA brought it into the Champions League from the 2022/23 group stage, with cameras tracking 29 body points on each player. The Premier League introduced its own system on 12 April 2025. In the Premier League's description, the system suggests the kick point and draws the lines on the second-rearmost defender and the attacker, and the VAR reviews and approves the outcome, which is why it is only semi-automated.

Sources: IFAB Laws of the Game 2026/27, Law 11 – Offside, IFAB Law 5 – The Referee, IFAB VAR protocol, IFAB law changes 2026/27, UEFA on semi-automated offside technology, Premier League on semi-automated offside technology.