How offside actually works
A step-by-step walk through Law 11 as published in the 2026/27 Laws of the Game: what an offside position is, why position alone is never an offence, the three forms of active involvement, the exempt restarts, and how the offence is sanctioned.
Why this wins its question: Most offside explainers answer "what is offside" with a diagram and stale wording; this guide walks the actual 2026/27 decision sequence a referee applies, with every step bound to the current IFAB text.
Key takeaways
- Offside is judged when the ball is played by a team-mate, not when it is received.
- Position alone is never an offence - active involvement is required.
- Level with the second-last opponent is onside, and arms never count.
- A deliberate defensive play resets offside; a deliberate save does not.
- There is no offside directly from throw-ins, corners or goal kicks.
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
Offside position is judged at the moment the ball is played or touched by a team-mate, not when the receiving player touches it.
A player is in an offside position when any part of the head, body or feet is in the opponents' half (excluding the halfway line) and nearer to the opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent; hands and arms of all players, including goalkeepers, are excluded.
The offence requires active involvement: interfering with play, interfering with an opponent, or gaining an advantage from a rebound or deflection off a post, crossbar, match official or opponent, or from a deliberate save.
There is no offside offence from a goal kick, throw-in or corner kick, and the sanction for an offence is an indirect free kick where the offence occurred.
In VAR competitions, offside position is a factual decision that may be resolved by a VAR-only review, without the referee viewing the footage at the screen.
A deliberate play by an opponent (control of the ball with the possibility of passing, gaining possession or clearing) resets offside for a positioned receiver, but a deliberate save - stopping or attempting to stop a ball going into or very close to the goal - does not.
How offside actually works
Offside is applied as a sequence of questions, in order. Position first, involvement second, sanction last. Miss the order and you get the folk version of the rule wrong.
Step 1 - Freeze the moment
Everything is judged at the moment the ball is played or touched by a team-mate — not when the pass arrives. A player who is level when the ball is struck and two metres beyond the defence when receiving it is onside.
Step 2 - Is the player in an offside position?
A player is in an offside position when:
- any part of the head, body or feet is in the opponents' half (the
halfway line itself does not count), and
- that part is nearer to the opponents' goal line than both the ball and
the second-last opponent (the last opponent is usually, but not necessarily, the goalkeeper).
Hands and arms are excluded for every player, including the goalkeepers. A player level with the second-last opponent, or with the last two opponents, is not in an offside position.
Step 3 - Did the player become actively involved?
Being in an offside position is not an offence. The offence happens only if the positioned player becomes involved in active play by:
1. Interfering with play — playing or touching a ball passed or touched by a team-mate. 2. Interfering with an opponent — for example blocking the line of vision, challenging for the ball, or making an obvious action that clearly impacts an opponent's ability to play the ball. 3. Gaining an advantage — playing a ball that rebounds or deflects off the goalpost, crossbar, a match official or an opponent, or that was deliberately saved by any opponent.
Step 3b - Did a defender deliberately play the ball?
The clause that decides most modern controversies: a positioned attacker who receives the ball from an opponent who deliberately played it — including by deliberate handball — has not gained an advantage, and is not offside. Deliberate play means the defender had control of the situation: the possibility of passing, gaining possession, or clearing the ball. The Law's own indicators include a ball travelling from distance in clear view, moving slowly, arriving from an expected direction, and time to coordinate a non-instinctive movement.
The exception inside the exception: a deliberate save — stopping or attempting to stop a ball going into or very close to the goal, by any opponent, not just the goalkeeper — does not reset offside.
Step 4 - Check the restart exemptions
There is no offside offence when the ball is received directly from a goal kick, a throw-in or a corner kick. "Directly" matters: a flick-on by a team-mate re-opens Law 11.
Step 5 - Sanction
The referee awards an indirect free kick where the offence occurred — which can be in the offending player's own half.
Where VAR fits
In competitions using VAR, offside position is a factual matter: the VAR can check it and the decision can be corrected without the referee going to the screen, unlike subjective judgements such as interference with an opponent.