Scope and version
The rule used on this page
This page applies The International Football Association Board (The IFAB), Laws of the Game 2026/27, principally Law 11, “Offside.” That edition took effect on 1 July 2026. A competition that began before then may have introduced the changes early or delayed them until the start of its next competition, so its published regulations still need checking.
This is the association-football baseline. It does not cover futsal, beach soccer or a competition taking part in an authorised offside trial. IFAB Circular no. 32 confirms that offside trials continue, but trial wording is not the ordinary 2026/27 Law 11.
Decision path
Work through the call in this order
- Identify the team-mate's play or touch. Freeze the first point of contact with the ball; for a goalkeeper's throw, use release—the last point of contact.
- Test the player's position. The player must have a playable body part in the opponents' half and beyond both the ball and the second-last opponent.
- Keep watching. An offside position is not yet an offence.
- Test involvement. Did the player play the ball, interfere with an opponent, or gain an advantage after a rebound, deflection or deliberate save?
- Check for an exception or new phase. Direct receipt from a goal kick, throw-in or corner kick is exempt; a genuine deliberate play by an opponent can also end the earlier offside restriction.
- Apply the correct outcome. Usually this is play on or an indirect free kick where the involvement occurred, subject to advantage and any separate foul or misconduct.
Stage 1: position
Both the ball and the second-last opponent matter
Under IFAB Law 11.1, a player is in an offside position only if any part of the head, body or feet is in the opponents' half—excluding the halfway line—and nearer the opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent.
- Level is onside. A player level with the second-last opponent or the last two opponents is not in an offside position. A player level with or behind the ball also fails the “nearer than the ball” test.
- The goalkeeper has no special place in the count. Law 11 says “opponent,” not “defender.” The goalkeeper is often one of the last two opponents, but need not be.
- The player's own half is safe. Even if every opponent except the goalkeeper is upfield, a player with no playable body part in the opponents' half cannot be in an offside position.
The measurement
Only body parts that may legally score are compared
Hands and arms are ignored for every player, including goalkeepers. IFAB places the upper boundary of the arm in line with the bottom of the armpit. A projecting hand cannot make an attacker offside, and a defender's outstretched arm cannot put an attacker onside.
The ordinary snapshot is the first point of contact when the team-mate plays or touches the ball—not when the ball leaves the foot and not when the attacker receives it. Law 11 gives one express exception: when a goalkeeper throws the ball, position is judged at release, the last point of contact.
Stage 2: involvement
Law 11.2 lists three routes to an offence
A player who was in an offside position at the relevant touch is penalised only by becoming involved in active play through one of these routes:
- Interfering with play: playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a team-mate. The team-mate need not have intended a pass.
- Interfering with an opponent: clearly obstructing the opponent's line of vision, challenging for the ball, clearly attempting to play a nearby ball when that action impacts an opponent, or making an obvious action that clearly impacts an opponent's ability to play it.
- Gaining an advantage: playing the ball or interfering with an opponent after it rebounds or is deflected from a goalpost, crossbar, match official or opponent, or after any opponent deliberately saves it.
Running toward the ball, calling for it or making a defender notice the run is not automatically enough. The action must fit one of Law 11.2's stated tests. IFAB's match-official guidance does allow a player to be penalised before touching the ball when, in the referee's opinion, no onside team-mate has an opportunity to play it; otherwise officials must not punish the position alone.
Goalkeeper interference
No touch is required, but the impact must be clear
An offside-positioned attacker can commit an offence by clearly blocking the goalkeeper's line of vision or by challenging the goalkeeper for the ball. An obvious action or a clear attempt to play a nearby ball can also qualify when it clearly affects the goalkeeper's ability to play the ball.
Merely standing somewhere in the penalty area is not enough. The referee must connect the attacker's position or action to the opponent's ability to see, play or challenge for the ball. This is why two shots with a similarly placed attacker can receive different rulings: the sightline, distance, movement and effect may differ.
Opponent's contact
“The defender touched it” is not the legal test
An earlier offside position normally stops mattering when the player receives the ball from an opponent's deliberate play, including deliberate handball, unless that play was a deliberate save. Under Law 11.2, deliberate play means the opponent had control of the ball with the possibility of passing, gaining possession or clearing it. A controlled but inaccurate clearance can still qualify.
IFAB's indicators include distance and clear view, ball speed, whether the direction was expected, time to coordinate the body, and whether the movement was controlled rather than an instinctive stretch or jump with limited contact. A fast ball that glances off a defender points toward a deflection rather than a new phase. No single indicator decides every case.
Deliberate save: stopping or trying to stop a ball going into or very close to goal does not reset offside, even if the action was intentional. A save can be made by an outfield player as well as a goalkeeper.
Direct restart exceptions
Three restarts cannot directly produce an offside offence
IFAB Law 11.3 creates no offside offence when a player receives the ball directly from a goal kick, throw-in or corner kick. There is no equivalent Law 11.3 exemption for receiving a free kick.
“Directly” matters. If a team-mate touches the goal kick, throw-in or corner before the player receives it, ordinary offside judgment begins from that new team-mate touch. If an opponent touches the restart first, analyse that contact under the deliberate-play, deflection and deliberate-save tests rather than treating every later receipt as automatically exempt.
Foul or offside first?
Sequence decides the restart
If a player in an offside position is fouled while merely moving toward the ball, before playing or attempting to play it or challenging an opponent, the foul occurred first and is penalised. That can mean a direct free kick or penalty kick. If the player is already playing or attempting to play the ball, or challenging for it, the offside offence occurred first and the indirect free kick is the restart.
A reckless or more serious act by the defender may still require disciplinary action even when offside supplies the restart. Separately, if the attacker moves into an opponent's path and impedes that opponent rather than committing the specific Law 11 interference, IFAB directs the referee to Law 12; the exact restart then depends on that offence.
Leaving the field
Crossing a line does not erase a player from the calculation
Under Law 11.4, a defender who leaves without permission is treated as being on the goal line or touchline for offside until the next stoppage, or until the defending team has played the ball toward halfway and it is outside its penalty area. Deliberately leaving also brings a caution when the ball next goes out.
An attacker may step or stay off the field to avoid involvement. If that attacker re-enters from the goal line and becomes involved before the same ending event, the player is treated as positioned on the goal line for offside. Deliberately leaving, re-entering without permission and gaining an advantage can also bring a caution. An attacker who simply remains stationary between the posts and inside the goal does not invalidate a goal unless that player commits an offside or Law 12 offence.
Restart and sanction
The offence location controls the free kick
For offside, Law 11.4 awards the defending team an indirect free kick where the offence occurred—the place the player became involved, not the place where the earlier offside position was measured. That location can be in the player's own half after the player runs back to play the ball.
Offside by itself is not misconduct, so it does not normally produce a yellow or red card. Under Law 5.3, the referee may apply advantage if continuing gives the defending team a real benefit and may return to the offence if the expected advantage does not materialise within a few seconds.
Officials and technology
VAR changes the process, not Law 11
In a match using VAR, offside can be checked when it forms part of a reviewable goal, penalty or other incident listed in the IFAB VAR protocol. A factual position decision is usually handled by a VAR-only review; subjective interference with an opponent is normally suitable for an on-field review. The referee still makes the final decision.
The VAR protocol permits a delayed flag or whistle only in a very clear attacking situation where a player is about to score or has a clear run into or toward the penalty area. VAR and semi-automated offside technology may be used only under the applicable authorisation and competition arrangements. A match without that technology applies the same 2026/27 positional and involvement tests with the available match officials.
Worked case 1 · position
The goalkeeper is not always the last opponent
Situation: the goalkeeper has run upfield. One outfield defender remains on the goal line and another is level with the attacker when the pass is touched.
IFAB 2026/27 ruling: onside. The two relevant opponents are the goal-line defender and the level outfield defender. Because the attacker is level with the second-last opponent, Law 11.1 is not satisfied.
Worked case 2 · sightline
A shot passes an offside attacker near the goalkeeper
Situation: an attacker is in an offside position between the shooter and goalkeeper. The ball passes nearby and enters the goal, but the attacker does not touch it.
IFAB 2026/27 ruling: the goal is disallowed only if the attacker clearly obstructed the goalkeeper's line of vision, challenged for the ball, or made a qualifying action that clearly affected the goalkeeper's ability to play it. Proximity and no touch do not settle the decision by themselves.
Worked case 3 · defender contact
An instinctive block sends the ball to the forward
Situation: a hard pass travels a few metres toward an offside-positioned forward. A defender instinctively stretches out a leg, makes limited contact and the ball reaches the forward.
IFAB 2026/27 ruling: offside when the forward plays the ball. The limited, instinctive contact is a deflection rather than deliberate play because the defender lacked control and a realistic possibility of passing, possessing or clearing it.
Worked case 4 · foul timing
The offside-positioned runner is fouled first
Situation: a through ball is played toward a player in an offside position. Before the player attempts to play the ball or challenges an opponent, a defender trips the runner inside the penalty area.
IFAB 2026/27 ruling: penalty kick. The foul happened before any offside offence. Had the attacker already made a qualifying attempt to play the ball or challenged for it, offside would have occurred first.
Worked case 5 · restart spot
The player returns into their own half
Situation: an attacker is in an offside position in the opponents' half when a team-mate passes. The attacker runs back across halfway and touches the ball in their own half.
IFAB 2026/27 ruling: offside, with an indirect free kick where the player touched the ball in their own half. Position was fixed at the pass; the later location fixes the offence and restart.
Common misconceptions
Five shortcuts that produce the wrong answer
- “There must be daylight.” Not under the ordinary 2026/27 Law 11: any legally playable body part beyond the line can create an offside position.
- “One defender between attacker and goal is enough.” The test uses the second-last opponent and the ball; the goalkeeper is not automatically the last opponent.
- “A defender touched it, so the phase reset.” Only deliberate play as IFAB defines it does that; a deflection or deliberate save does not.
- “No touch means no offside.” Interfering with an opponent can be an offence without touching the ball.
- “The flag proves the player was offside at that later moment.” Position is judged at the team-mate's earlier touch; involvement and the restart location may occur later.
Official references
Governing-body sources and effective version
Checked against The IFAB's live 2026/27 Law 11, Law 5, match-official guidance and VAR protocol, plus Circular no. 32. The baseline took effect on 1 July 2026; competitions that began earlier may use the permitted transition, and authorised trial or technology arrangements must be confirmed in the appointed competition's regulations.