The law of offside is one of the main laws in the world of football, and plays a large role in determining the outcome of the match, in the form of the penalty kick.

The importance of offside article No. 11 in football law lies in the first place, by canceling a goal for a team, due to the illegal position of the player benefiting from the ball, or even the illegal interference of his colleague.

This law is not without controversy, which is the adjective associated with football in general, and it can be considered one of the most important reasons behind the historic decision of the International Football Association (FIFA) to adopt the “VAR” technology, and then introduce the “semi-automated infiltration” system as From the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

According to some football references, the offside law was found in the early years of football in its modern form in Britain, specifically in 1863.

The offside law was stricter in the past, where a player was considered offside if he had no 3 players (including the goalkeeper) in front of him.

Some modifications were introduced in 1925, to become more flexible than before, as players were reduced from 3 to 2 due to an offside situation, but in 1990 the player on the same line with the second last defender or defenders was considered non-offside.

What is the law of intrusion?

A player is considered to be in an offside position, if he is closer to his opponent's goal line than the last defenders, (goalkeeper and player) or (players without goalkeeper or more), anywhere in the opposing team's half, and on any part of his body, whether head or feet Except for the hands, at the moment the ball is passed to a teammate.

In this case, the assistant referee on the side line of the field raises his flag, indicating that the player is in an offside position, which requires the court referee to blow his whistle, and calculate an indirect free kick to be executed from the place of the offside player.

Players' hands and arms are excluded from the offside estimation of the two teams, since in these two parts it is not possible to score goals, and the upper part of the arm (shoulder) must be parallel to the lower part of the armpit.

In the text of the interpretation published by the International Football Association Board "IFAB" (IFAB): "The shoulder is not part of the arm in hand touches, it is part of the body and goals can be scored with it, and this must be taken into account when calculating offside."

 Offside Calculation Cases

The assistant referee raises his flag if a player is closer to his opponent's goal line than the last defenders, and if a player in an illegal position interferes in active play and prevents the other team's defender from reaching the ball.

Offside is also calculated, even if the ball is not in the possession of the offside player, because he is in a place that limits the goalkeeper's vision of the ball, or occupies him and contributes to distracting him.

The assistant referee raises the offside flag, if the player who is in an offside position from the beginning follows the rebound ball from the crossbar or the post, or from the goalkeeper, or even that reaches him after hitting the defender in an unintentional way, and this is called taking advantage of his presence in an offside position .

Project intrusion

A player may continue to play even if he is in an offside position in some special cases by law: if the ball rebounds to the player directly from the opposing team’s defender, or if it arrives directly from a goal kick, throw-in or corner kick.

The last of these cases is that the player benefiting from the ball is in his team's half of the court, and there is no opponent in front of him.

The ball covers offside

The ball can cover offside in the sense that if an attacker passes the ball that was closer to the opponents goal line than his colleague who passed it to him, there is no violation even if there are no two defenders to cover the offside, a situation that occurs frequently in matches and causes confusion for football fans and even for some coaches and players Moreover.

private parking

As a result of the deception witnessed in some matches by defenders who want to detect offside, FIFA introduced an amendment about 15 years ago that if a defender leaves the field without the referee’s permission, he is automatically considered to be on his team’s goal line, until the first stop of the ball, but if The ball crosses the center line of the defending team, the departing player is considered to be on the edge of the penalty area.

On the other hand, the law allows a player who is in an offside position, to move away from the place of play and not participate in it even if he is close to the ball (as long as the opponents are not occupied), in order to allow a colleague stationed in a legitimate place to benefit from the ball.

Technological development in the Qatar World Cup 2022

Swiss Gianni Infantino, President of the International Football Association "FIFA", confirmed earlier his keenness to introduce the "semi-automated infiltration" system in the 22nd edition of the World Cup, which is being held in the State of Qatar.

In late July, the International Football Association Board "IFAB" approved the adoption of robot technology, and its use in order to control the infiltration process within half a second.

Robots will appear for the first time in the history of the World Cup, during the World Cup in Qatar, especially since the equipment has been completed, after a series of successful experiments, which were tested in previous FIFA tournaments, such as the 2019 and 2021 FIFA Club World Cups, and the Arab Cup that was held in Qatar at the end of the year. last year.

The "robot" uses 10 cameras that track 29 body points for each player with pinpoint accuracy, to determine if the player is ahead of any part of his body within half a second, which is much faster than the video referee technology "VAR" (VAR).

Assistant Referee

The “line man” is the old name by which the assistant referee was known, and his task was limited to detecting infiltration and announcing whether the ball had left the field or not, until the beginning of the nineties of the last century.

And the powers of the assistant referee expanded, starting with the World Cup in the United States of America, which was held in 1994, until he became an active participant in many decisive and fateful decisions, especially calculating penalty kicks, if he was in a position to detect the error, and the referee did not notice him.

But recently, after the new technology, his powers began to diminish. Since the World Cup in Russia 2018, the assistant referees have received instructions not to indicate the presence of infiltration in the event of the slightest possible suspicion, which made them not raise the flag even in some clear cases of offside.

The wisdom of this is to give the attacking team the full opportunity to score, and in the event that the attack ends without a goal, the play continues, but if the attack results in a goal, a penalty kick, or a free kick on the defenders, the defenders are retracted, and the referee is referred to calculating an offside if it is present.

In the Qatar World Cup 2022, the assistant referees will be stripped of the offside account almost completely, in light of the presence of a very accurate semi-automatic infiltration.

  • Former international referee