Latest news with #offside
BBC News
17-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Ada Hegerberg was offside, so why was a penalty awarded?
Norway's captain Ada Hegerberg was clearly offside when she was awarded a penalty with her country 1-0 down with 30 minutes to go in their Women's Euro 2025 quarter-final with a match that saw Italy reach the semi-finals of Women's Euro for the first time in 28 years, Hegerberg was brought down in the box by Italy's centre-back Elena Linari, who was shown a yellow was offside at the point of contact, leading to some confusion as to why a spot-kick was Scott explained the rule during the post-match analysis on BBC One: "If an offside player is fouled before they commit an offside offence, there is no offside and the foul has precedent."This comes from the International Football Association Board's (Ifab) Law's of the Game., external"If a player in an offside position is moving towards the ball with the intention of playing the ball and is fouled before attempting to play the ball, the foul is penalised as it has occurred before the offside offence."So, if the foul occurs in the penalty area, the foul is penalised with the penalty kick being sent her spot-kick wide for the second time this tournament, but scored from open play six minutes later by slotting the ball into the bottom corner. This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team. What is Ask Me Anything? Ask Me Anything is a service dedicated to answering your want to reward your time by telling you things you do not know and reminding you of things you team will find out everything you need to know and be able to call upon a network of contacts including our experts and will be answering your questions from the heart of the BBC Sport newsroom, and going behind the scenes at some of the world's biggest sporting coverage will span the BBC Sport website, app, social media and YouTube accounts, plus BBC TV and radio. More questions answered... What is the prize money at The Open 2025?How do you win the Tour de France?What is a links golf course?
Daily Mail
13-06-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Fourth-tier Swedish club force global change in offside law after finding genius 'loophole' in rules
The international offside law has been updated after a fourth-tier Swedish club exposed a 'loophole' in the regulations - but the flaw in the rules still exists. Torns IF, a club from the small settlement of Stangby, caught the attention of world football in the summer of 2023 when they released a video revealing the problem. The traditional rules dictated that offsides would be judged based off when the passer first made contact with the ball in their final touch. In the vast majority of scenarios, this is no issue at all because when a player typically kicks a football, the 'first contact' is also their 'last contact'. But Torns demonstated that if a player could scoop up the ball and balance it on their foot, a team-mate could theoretically run well beyond the defence and not count as offside even if they released a pass multiple seconds later in the same 'touch'. It is hard to ever envision that scenario happening in a game due to the pressure players are under, but Torns wrote to IFAB, football's lawmakers, over the issue. Now, almost two years down the line, IFAB have replied to thank the club and reveal that they have updated the rules of the game. Torns IF, from a place with an approximated population of around 2,000 people, have technically helped change the rules of the beautiful game for us all. But not so fast. The problem has not really been solved. IFAB's updated rules read: 'The first point of contact of the 'play' or 'touch' of the ball should still be used; however, when the ball is thrown by the goalkeeper, the last point of contact should be used.' IFAB have only updated the law applying to goalkeepers but theoretically, Torns' 'scoop pass' way of circumventing the law still stands. The club wrote on X: 'We did it. Torns IF changed the rules of football. After the introduction of the Torn pass and lengthy e-mail correspondence with IFAB, the offside law has been amended. We are immensely proud of our contribution to the beautiful game.' But they added in a separate post: 'IFAB's distinction between passes is hard to understand. The clarification of the offside law only applies to keeper throws and not to related passes, e.g. scoop and swivel passes. But, it's a win for us. We changed the rules, and some types of the Torn Pass can still be used.' Writing in 2023, Torns IF proudly revealed their cunning trick: 'Torns IF have developed an ingenious method to create one-on-ones with the goalkeeper. 'It's based on a rule found on page 93 in the Laws of the Game stating that the first point of contact of the 'play' or 'touch' of the ball' should be used when judging offside. Groundbreaking. 'This is amusing and interesting. In terms of the "spirit" of the Law, this is obviously offside and, in terms of the Law itself, the "balancing" of the ball on the foot is a different "play" from the movement which gives the ball momentum to move. 'We will review if the wording of Law 11 needs changing in light of this "theoretical" situation.'
New York Times
13-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
The offside law, Bill McCracken and, a century on, the decision that changed football forever
One hundred years ago today, at a meeting at 22 Rue de Londres, Paris, association football — soccer — changed forever. The International Football Association Board voted that Law 11 of the game, the offside law, would be altered from season 1925-26 so that two players would need to be between an attacker and the goal line to remain onside, not three as it had been previously. Advertisement This was arguably the most significant rule change since football was professionalised in the mid-1880s. It is possibly the most significant until the introduction of the back-pass rule in 1992. It may even have a claim to be the biggest moment in the history of the professional sport. Every organised match played since 1925 has had its geometry defined by the June 1925 offside law. The reason for the change was that matches had become clogged by offside procedures and decisions, with referees sometimes blowing their whistle 40 times in a game for offside alone. Newspapers referred to 'the eternal whistle'. The constant interruptions were affecting the game's flow and supporters' enjoyment was diminished. It may sound remarkably familiar given today's gripes over VAR. The aim of the altered law was to decrease interruptions and increase goalscoring. In this, it was a success. The June 1925 minutes of the IFAB meeting in Paris state, under the heading 'Present Law': '6. When a player plays the ball, any player of the same side who at such moment of playing is nearer to his opponents' goal line is out of play and may not touch the ball himself nor in any way whatever interfere with an opponent, or with the play, until the ball has been again played, unless there are at such moment of playing at least three of his opponents nearer their own goal-line.' Under the heading 'Proposed Alteration', it states: 'From the first sentence of Law 6, delete the word 'three' and substitute the word 'two'.' It appears a simple modification, yet its impact was dramatic and enduring. Perhaps the simplest way of explaining the pre-1925 situation is to say that defences were effectively allowed a spare defender, who was — by modern interpretations — not counted in offside calculations. In other words, assuming the goalkeeper was in his usual position, the offside line was determined by the penultimate defender, rather than the last defender. Advertisement Therefore, before 1925, the two defenders (the 'full-backs' in the 2-3-5 formation that was almost mandatory at the time) would not play in a line when defending. Generally, the defender closest to the ball would push up and close down, and would often find himself 15 or 20 yards in advance of his colleague, who basically acted as a sweeper. A 1937 book entitled Association Football by FNS Creek illustrates this point via the diagram below: The '2' and '3' in the 2-3-5 system are denoted by lines. Creek's point is that the attackers in positions 'A' and 'B' would, according to pre-1925 laws, be offside because of the position of the right-back. But in the post-1925 world, they were onside because of the position of the left-back. The point of the law change was to reduce the number of stoppages in the game, but it had a dramatic effect on goalscoring. On the first day of the new laws, Aston Villa defeated Burnley 10-0. 'With the law change, play initially lost its balance,' wrote John Cottrell in his 1970 book, A Century of Great Soccer Drama. 'The new law apparently favoured forwards even more than the old rule had assisted defenders. The immediate conclusion was that full-backs would have to play squarer and nearer their own goal.' There had been 4,700 goals scored in the four Football League divisions over the season just before the law change — afterwards, it rose to 6,373. There's a reason Dixie Dean's legendary 60-goal season for Everton came in the late 1920s. In this period, football was about goals, goals, goals. Some teams still wanted to hold an offside line, however, in roughly the modern manner, to prevent handing the initiative to the opposition. The problem was that two defenders were no longer sufficient when playing in that manner. Whereas previously opponents had to position themselves according to the position of the penultimate defender, knowing they would still have one final defender to beat, now they could keep players on the last line of defence. Long diagonal balls in behind were extremely effective, with the two defenders caught between covering the centre and the flanks. And therefore, defences adjusted. Most notably, Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman, after encouragement from one of his players, Charlie Buchan, used his centre-half — previously in the middle of the 'midfield three' — as a 'third back'. Herbie Roberts became known as a 'stopper' or 'policeman' centre-half, in stark contrast to the previously accepted style of a centre-half, which was to act as a dominating, attack-minded figure. Advertisement This move helped to transform Arsenal, at this point without a league title to their name, into the most successful club of the time. Their ploy was copied and the 'third back game', as it was then known, became the standard system. The 1925 offside rule, therefore, initially created incredibly attack-minded football, and then provoked considerably more cautious football. History does not just happen; people make history happen. What may seem from the 1925 IFAB minutes a dry and bureaucratic amendment stemmed from the flesh and blood of the game on the pitch. Offside was a talking point in British football for the years before and after the First World War — and it was British football shaping IFAB and the sport then, though the Paris venue for the 1925 meeting is an indication of expanded horizons. To reduce such a momentous decision to one individual would be an exaggeration. However, there were plenty in England who had been doing just that for some time — aiming fingers, verbal abuse and various objects at a certain William McCracken. McCracken was a Newcastle United player of such offside prowess and defensive influence that 'McCrackenism' became a term of reference. McCracken was a character; Hollywood handsome, a thinker and one of the greatest players to grace St James' Park. Over a period of 19 years, he made 432 Newcastle United appearances, placing him fifth, even today, on the club's all-time list. Between 1904 and 1911, McCracken was an essential element of the finest team in England — Newcastle won three titles and reached five FA Cup finals in those years. On top of that, along the way, McCracken gathered an unofficial title: 'The Offside King'. A biography bearing that title will be published soon, written by Newcastle United historian Paul Joannou, who is keen that McCracken receives due recognition. Advertisement 'I have not found anyone in terms of a footballer on the field who we can say is largely responsible for changing the game itself,' Joannou says. 'There have been one or two off the field, such as George Eastham and Jean-Marc Bosman. But McCracken, in forcing a change in legislation, is unique.' McCracken was not a Geordie. He was born in Belfast in pre-Partition Ireland in 1883. His first club was Distillery in inner west Belfast, close to his home on Nansen Street. Aged 20, he won the Irish League and Irish Cup with 'the Whites' before being quietly ushered across the Irish Sea by Newcastle as a director of Glasgow Rangers knocked on the door in Nansen Street and Liverpool's (Irish) director John McKenna waited at Anfield. McCracken was a wanted man, and to some, he stayed that way. Not the first imaginative, truculent Irishman to play the game, nor the last, McCracken's militancy and principles put him at odds with the Irish Football Association. They banned the best Irish footballer of his generation from playing for Ireland — for 12 years — for arguing Irish players should be paid the same rate as England's. McCracken took it on the chin. His personality was as vivid as his talent. In an early sports questionnaire, he said his ambition was to be 'King of Ireland'. By the end of his playing career, The Guardian newspaper had given him another name: 'The Irish Mephistopheles'. It was Don Davies who wrote that. Davies, an England amateur international, was to die in the Munich air crash in 1958 while covering Manchester United; he had seen McCracken play and he left a vibrant profile. Davies described McCracken as a 'setter of offside traps of unwonted slickness and cunning'. These were designed to force opponents 'to think — and that has never been a popular mission'. 'Crowds flocked to watch him, composed mainly of angry and prejudiced men, and few were there who had the patience to acknowledge the beauty of McCracken's technique in the abstract,' Davies wrote. Advertisement Davies partially understood the public antipathy toward McCracken — 'Who but a snake charmer would fall in love with a serpent?' — but his admiration was clear. It was shared on Tyneside. In a 1913 match report, the Sheffield Star referred to McCracken's display as 'one of those whole-hearted exhibitions that have made the rollicking son of Erin so popular at St James' Park'. Joannou makes the point that this appeal was and is unusual for a defender: 'He wasn't a goalscorer or a flamboyant midfielder. He was a full-back and very rarely are they the stars. But he's right up there.' McCracken called himself 'an overlapping wing-back before the term was invented', and Joannou says McCracken and his fellow Newcastle team-mates came to realise their need to perfect offside on a train journey back from a defeat at Notts County. 'Every club played the offside game and Notts County were a top-level side then,' Joannou says. 'Newcastle were caught offside all the time. This was 1907. On the train back from Nottingham to Tyneside, the club had what was called a 'council of war' — this was before managers — and the players themselves decided on how to play. After that drubbing, in offside terms, McCracken was one of the four or five players who were really scientific in their tactics. Over the next few weeks and seasons, they perfected the offside trap. 'They became the best in the land at it. As an individual, McCracken became the most hated man in football. 'There are lovely caricatures of him with his arm up, appealing for offside. But he ran into all sorts of arguments with other players and with referees, who didn't like it as they felt it was unsportsmanlike.' When football resumed after the First World War, so did McCracken, by then club captain. Newcastle finished eighth in the First Division in season 1919-20, but they had the best defensive record. McCracken was 37 by then and stayed at St James' for another three years. Then, in February 1923, a couple of days after his 40th birthday, second division Hull City offered him the post of manager on a five-year contract. Advertisement Hull were neither wealthy nor prestigious, but McCracken was there for eight years and took them to an FA Cup semi-final in 1930, lost on a replay to eventual winners Arsenal. In the quarter-finals, Hull had beaten Newcastle, Hughie Gallacher and all. The headline in Tyneside's Daily Chronicle was 'Newcastle In McCracken Trap'. The match report said: 'One of the most piquant features of the match was the frequency with which the visiting forwards were manoeuvred into offside positions — shades of William McCracken, now Hull's manager, who when at Newcastle, taught the rest of the football world how to play that game.' Distracted by the cup, Hull were relegated. But McCracken had made his mark. He had made another in the 1925-26 season. In the immediate aftermath of the IFAB Paris offside decision, as goals flew in everywhere — Newcastle conceded 75 that season, as opposed to 37 in McCracken's last in 1922-23 — there was one club bucking the trend. The club was Hull City. They began 1925-26 with a 0-0 draw against Derby County (who apologised for arriving late, having missed a train connection at Selby). Hull followed that with a 2-0 win at Southampton, then a 1-0 win at Bradford City. There were then 4-0 and 3-0 victories and, after five games in football's new world, a world created by the likes of McCracken, of the 92 clubs in the top four divisions, only Hull City had not conceded a goal. The local paper, the Hull Daily Mail, saluted 'the astute manager' and his players' 'intelligent interpretation' of the new offside clause. Davies was rather more lyrical: 'Chilly doubts again assailed observers. Not McCracken again, surely! But facts were facts and soon the alarming rumour spread, later confirmed by eye-witnesses, that the enterprising coach, critic and tactical adviser to Hull City Football Club was none other than our old friend the Irish Mephistopheles, William McCracken… the game's arch-obstructionist.' McCracken moved on from Hull to manage Gateshead, Millwall and Aldershot before returning to Newcastle United as scout, often in Ireland. He would begin reports, 'Here is the latest bulletin from the land of spuds and buttermilk.' He recommended a 17-year-old George Eastham, who was playing in the Irish League. Newcastle bought him and Eastham, too, would shape the entire sport via his contract dispute and victory. Advertisement Living in south London, at 75, McCracken then started scouting for Watford. He recommended they sign Pat Jennings from Newry Town, which they did for (apparently) £10. McCracken filed his last scouting report to Watford in 1971, from a reserve team game between Crystal Palace and Leicester City. He was 88. Visiting his son in Hull, he was 95 when he passed away in January 1979, quite a distance from Distillery and Paris 1925. Some remembered all of that, though, the Sunday Express announcing: 'Bill McCracken, the famous old Irish international full-back of Newcastle United, whose offside tactics led to a change in the laws of the game in 1925, has died.' McCracken died as he lived: onside.
BBC News
11-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Club World Cup officials must be 'braver'
International referees' chief Pierluigi Collina has told officials to be "braver" with their offside decisions at the Club World Cup despite the introduction of speeded up semi-automated offside (SAO) enhanced SAO is programmed to notify assistant referees immediately with an 'offside, offside' message in their ear when a player who is more than 10cm offside touches the is quicker than the current SAO technology, which has to take into account actual positions before making a was only introduced into the Premier League on 12 April, before which the video assistant referee (VAR) made all offside is one of a number of initiatives that will be used at the Club World Cup in the United States, which starts on Sunday. Others include:Referees wearing body cams that allow live pictures to be shown immediately before the eight-second countdown for goalkeepers to release the making in-stadium announcements to explain VAR decisions, and the VAR pictures being shown to fans in real time inside the ground. The introduction of the enhanced SAO comes a month after Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi suffered a serious abdominal injury after crashing into a post during their Premier League draw against had been chasing the ball despite a clear offside that had not been the aftermath, Awoniyi's team-mate Ola Aina said the injury "would never have happened" had the assistant referee raised their flag enhanced element of SAO will not work in situations where a player who doesn't play the ball is offside, or in a crowded situation, so Collina says officials need the courage of their convictions."Since the very beginning we have told the assistant referee 'in case of doubt, keep the flag down'," said Collina, the Italian World Cup final referee who is now chairman of world governing body Fifa's referees' committee."If you raise the flag, it kills everything, including the possibility that the VAR can help you."But we are aware this has led to some consequences."Probably the assistant referees went a bit far. What was a doubt became bigger and bigger and bigger. There are possible offside incidents where top assistant referees, as there are in many competitions around the world, would not have this doubt."Despite the introduction of this [technology] we have also reminded our assistant referees to be a bit braver and more courageous in putting the flag up when the offside is offside. Two metres offside cannot lead to a doubt." Countdown for goalkeepers A new plan to speed up the game will be implemented both at the Club World Cup and the European Under-21 Championship, in which referees will only allow goalkeepers eight seconds to release the time will start once the goalkeeper has control of the ball. After three seconds, the referee will raise his hand in the air and count down from five to notify the goalkeeper he has to release. If he fails, the attacking side will be awarded a believes it will largely be a preventative measure and said a corner had been awarded twice in 160 games when it was trialled in South he feels it necessary given the amount of time some goalkeepers are taking to release the ball."The referees should be flexible," he said. "If a goalkeeper has the ball for 8.1 seconds it is not necessarily a corner."But we have had a lot of instances of goalkeepers keeping the ball for 25 seconds. There is nothing entertaining about that." VAR decisions explained but discussions won't be heard As in previous Fifa tournaments, the on-pitch referee will communicate VAR decisions and the reasons for them to supporters inside the the first time, fans at the match will be able to see the replays the officials are being there will still be no broadcast of the actual discussions taking place in the VAR is urging patience to those who cannot understand why football is not yet implementing something commonplace in other sports like rugby, cricket and all the major American sports."I cannot tell you if something more might be added in the future," he said. "But we need to do it when we are sure this will not affect the decision-making process."When they are doing their job, which is very difficult, the VARs and the referees are under pressure. Knowing everyone is listening may add some pressure."We are a work in process. We have not to forget that although VAR feels as though it has existed forever, the first match with it was 2016."We have to be patient." Live images from bodycams - but only before game Fifa have pledged to show live images from the referees' bodycams - which will be attached to their earpieces - before the game, both in the tunnel and during the warm-up and coin there will be no live images shown during the game and anything controversial or in bad taste, such as a player suffering a nasty injury, will not the images would be available to VAR, Collina cannot see how a camera next to a referee's eye would detect something the official had it will do, Fifa believe, is show the game from a unique vantage point and "enhance the storytelling".To that end, it is an entertainment concept."That is clear," said Collina.
The Sun
11-06-2025
- Sport
- The Sun
Fifa to introduce major change to offside decisions at Club World Cup to avoid repeat of Taiwo Awoniyi injury horror
CHELSEA and Manchester City players will avoid the risk of extra injuries from late-raised offside flags at the Club World Cup. Fifa chiefs have now confirmed a new computer-led system will be used for the first time when the expanded 32-club tournament kicks off in Miami in the early hours of Sunday morning. 2 2 And with the flag being raised if an attacker is just four INCHES offside, it will mean there SHOULD be no repeat of the offside guidelines that led to the horror injury sustained by Nottingham Forest's Taiwo Awoniyi last month. Nigerian Awoniyi was placed in an induced coma in hospital following urgent abdominal surgery after colliding with a post in the 2-2 draw with Leicester when assistant referee Sian Massey-Ellis kept the flag down against Anthony Elanga. Massey-Ellis was following International FA Board protocols brought in since the introduction of VAR on 'tight' offsides, designed to prevent legitimate goalscoring chances being wiped out by premature whistles. But the Fifa version of the semi-automated offside technology, being introduced at this summer's 32-team tournament in the USA, will see the latest version of tracking cameras utilised. That will see assistants automatically informed if an attacking player breaking the line and touching the ball is more than 10cm offside, allowing the flag to be raised earlier. Each stadium will have 16 dedicated tracking cameras, linked to AI technology and algorithms, in addition to the sensor in the middle of the ball that was introduced at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Fifa ref's chief Pierluigi Collina said: 'The audio message, which will be 'offside, offside', will only go to the assistant referee when the player the algorithm has detected in an offside position touches the ball. 'Until they touch the ball, even if they are in an offside position, that message will not be sent. WATCH EVERY MATCH OF THE CLUB WORLD CUP 2025 LIVE ON DAZN 'We are aware that the decision to keep the flag down was part of how VAR works, because you don't want to raise the flag on a close situation and kill the chance of a goal. 'The assistants have been doing what we told them to do but it is clear that what is viewed as 'close' has become bigger and bigger and bigger. Dazn unveil brilliant Club World Cup promo video with legendary boxing announcer drafted in to ring bell on tournament 'At the same time, we want the assistants to be a bit braver and more courageous in these situations. If a player is 2m offside, that cannot be a tight decision.' At this stage, PGMOL bosses have not planned to follow suit with the Fifa-style system next term, relying on the current guidelines once again. But if the Club World Cup approach is deemed a success, the pressure for Prem bosses to order a change of tack will grow, especially if late flags bring any more injuries next season. Fifa will also unveil the new Laws of the Game, including the 'five second countdown' signal leading to a corner if a goalkeeper holds onto the ball for more than eight seconds. Refs in the tournament will also be equipped with 'Ref Cams', attached to their ear pieces at eye level, giving TV and stadium viewers access to new angles of the play. The only live shots will be at the toss before the game but referee's views of key moments, including goals, will be shown on TV and stadium giant screens, and also available for officials to rule on VAR decision changes.
