IFAB, football’s law-making body, has clarified the offside rule, explaining what constitutes defenders “deliberately playing” the ball.

Under the clarification, a player attempting to regain possession counts as a deliberate act — meaning Karim Benzema’s disallowed goal in May’s Champions League final could now be ruled onside.

Attackers standing in an offside position can be ruled onside if a defender makes a deliberate action to play the ball — but until now, there has been no explicit definition of a deliberate action.

This has led to controversy in previous matches, with debate often focusing on whether the defender made a co-ordinated attempt to play the ball, or it was an accidental act.

For example, Benzema scored a goal against Liverpool in the first-half of the Champions League final when the ball rebounded off Fabinho, who was attempting to make a slide tackle.

The strike was disallowed after it was deemed Fabinho had not engaged in a deliberate action, and the ball had instead deflected off him.

Though the law has not explicitly changed, the new guidelines make clear that an offside player will not automatically become onside upon a defender touching the ball.

IFAB’s new laws state: “‘Deliberate play’ is when a player has control of the ball with the possibility of passing the ball to a team-mate, gaining possession of the ball, or clearing the ball.

“If the pass, attempt to gain possession or clearance by the player in control of the ball is inaccurate or unsuccessful, this does not negate the fact that the player ‘deliberately played’ the ball.”

Under these guidelines, Benzema’s goal could have stood, with Fabinho attempting to gain possession from Federico Valverde.

In addition, IFAB provided the following indicators that a player “deliberately played” the ball:

-The ball had travelled from distance and the players had a clear view of it
-The ball was not moving quickly
-The direction of the ball was not unexpected
-The player had time to coordinate their body movement
-A ball moving on the ground is easier to play than a ball in the air

The laws will be in place in all competitions across the world for the 2022-23 season.

sprints1:
They have kuku ruined the game with stupid VAR offside rule imagine counting toe as offside. Nonsense FIFA and UEFA people. I miss the days we watch proper football not this pass to me I pass back to keeper pass to you. Even to find better strikers these days na grace of God. Abeg make Una remember ronaldo in your prayers oo the guy need new club

justicechichex:
Dammn! So many rules in football these days... Dunno if these rules is taking the fun out of it.

mayor1814:
Am I the only one that have no idea what was stated in this offside article. The offside stuff is complex already. What I'm expecting is the cancellation of the rule sef.

LollySeaSide:
Never heard of IFAB until now.
Well...
Football rules, just like the Nigerian Constitution, have always been open to interpretations.
That's the only way they can "fix" things whenever they want to.
There is always the spirit of the laws and the words of the law.
Rest on, Gani Fawehinmi.