Understanding the Offside Rule In Time for The Euros

The Euros are coming, and that means you’re going to have to watch that Brit foot-soccer-ball match again. If you’re not a fan, or simply haven’t watched soccer since the World Cup, you’re going to need to brush up on those pesky rules again.

We’ll assume you know what a goal is, and that you know when a foul is committed and when a substitution is made, but the age-old confusion comes from when a player is offside. So let’s clear this up for you before that first European Championship 2016 game starts.

Let’s start with the basics. Say your favorite team is currently attacking, and your favorite player is in a great position to get the ball and surely he’ll go on to score. He receives the ball, nothing could go wrong, but the referee blows his whistle and the gameplay stops. Everyone on your team disappointedly runs back to its end of the pitch. You notice someone else who supports the opposite team shouts, “offside ref!,” but how come?

A player is in an offside position if they are nearer to the opposition’s goal line than both the ball and the second to last opponent. Sounds simple? Good. Although, there are some exceptions to the rule, of course

A player is not offside if he doesn’t touch the ball and gains no advantage by being offside. However, a player is also not offside even if he does touch the ball. This only occurs if he receives the ball from a goal kick, corner kick or throw-in. On the other hand, if the player is offside, doesn’t touch the ball but does gain an advantage from it (be it that he interferes with play or opponent), then he will be flagged as offside.

If this is all too confusing, though, then just shout along with everyone else in the bar and you’ll soon figure it out. Whatever you do, though, don’t reveal you don’t know the offside rule, or you’ll be swiftly ejected from said bar.