Offside is a professional term in football match, which first appeared in the Rules of Football Match promulgated in 1874. It is defined as: when the ball is passed in front of the attack direction, when the football kicks out, if the teammate of the defensive half is closer to the goal than the penultimate defender of the other side, and wants to use this position to interfere with the game or gain benefits, the player will be sentenced to offside.

There are many technical terms in football matches, such as penalty kick, corner kick, sideline kick, offside, etc. Among them, offside is often heard by many people, but its basic meaning is still ambiguous, and sometimes it is impossible to make an accurate judgment under special circumstances. Let’s explain it in detail below.

When we watch a football match, we often see a sideline referee raise a flag just after a player scores the ball into the opponent’s goal. The player who scored the goal has to shake his head helplessly and throw himself back into the attack. Naturally, the goal just scored will not count. Why? Because he was offside, he was offside at the moment when his teammates passed the ball to him.

Which position on the court is offside? In fact, there is no specific position, depending on the position of the players. First of all, offside can only happen in the opponent’s half court. At the moment when our own players pass the ball, we should observe the positions of all the players. When the player who is ready to catch the ball is at the forefront of all the players (excluding the goalkeeper of the opponent), he is offside. This position is not the position of his feet, but the position of his body, and his shoulders and head are leading.

In the past, offside was judged by the sideline referee with the naked eye, which naturally could not be absolutely accurate. But now, with the introduction of high-tech VAR technology, many offsides between millimeters can’t escape from the "eyes". However, although VAR makes the game fairer, it also reduces the excitement of the game to a certain extent and makes many beautiful goals invalid.

There are some special situations about offside on the court. For example, although the attacking player who receives the ball is ahead of all the defensive players (except the goalkeeper), he is still in his own half, so he is not offside at this time.

If a player on the attacking side is offside at the moment when the player passes the ball, but he doesn’t catch the ball or participate in the next attack, then he is not offside.

The last situation: although a player on the attacking side is in an offside position, he just runs with him, participates in the stall, and creates shooting opportunities for his own players, but he never touches the ball from beginning to end. Is he offside? Real fans, please tell me in the comments section.