Is It Offside Or Not?

The game where you test your offside decision-making skills against VAR.

Play Game
Referee offside flagPlayer celebrating

How to play

Make a decision

Browse through our carousel of offside decisions.

Be the referee

Think it's offside? Pick offside. Do the opposite if you think a call should not be offside.

See the results

After you've made a call, you'll see what other people and VAR chose.

What does offside mean

General definition

A player is caught offside if he’s nearer to the opponent’s goal than both the ball and the second-last opponent (including the goalkeeper) when his team-mate plays the ball to him.

In other words, a player can’t receive the ball from a team-mate unless there are at least two players either level with him or between him and the goal or unless his team-mate plays the ball backwards to him.

IFAB definition

A player is in an offside position if:

  • any part of the head, body or feet is in the opponents’ half (excluding the halfway line) and
  • any part of the head, body or feet is nearer to the opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent
  • The hands and arms of all players, including the goalkeepers, are not considered

A player is not in an offside position if level with the:

  • second-last opponent or
  • last two opponents