Can someone please explain to me what is the OFFSIDE rule in ⚽? ...

[aggiesal]

Attached is an image of yesterday's 1st Messi goal.
As you can see, Messi is ONSIDE, but his teammate is clearly OFFSIDE, yet this is considered a good goal.

[House of Roberts]

1. Is the pass to the offside player or Messi?

[aggiesal]

4. It went ro Messi, but the goalie still has to account for the other player. ...

I've seen Offsides called under this dame condition, plenty of times.
Where a pass is made to the Onside player yet an Offside player on the opposite side of the field is flagged for Offsides.

I'll supply an image when I see this condition, to prove my point.

[Bobstandard]

2. I'd welcome a short, cogent explanation

I had to try to explain how offsides work without pictures and had a hard time

PS. I know that in an earlier game the ‘Messi rule’ accounted for at least one goal. Someone else will have to explain that too

[underpants]

5. See post 3. I hope that's a good explanation

The "Messi Rule" most commonly refers to the MLS off-field treatment rule. Implemented in 2024 to prevent time-wasting, it requires a player who stays down for more than 15 seconds to leave the field for two minutes if medical staff enter. Lionel Messi exposed a flaw in this rule when an opponent's foul forced him off the pitch, prompting his team's coach to criticize the rule for punishing the fouled team.

[aggiesal]

8. Not buying that explanation. See my response #7. n/t

[Bobstandard]

13. Thanks. I didn't realize there was an actual Messi rule

I was being facetious mindful of how Messi, Mahomes,, and others so often come out on the good side of calls, or non calls.

[underpants]

14. That's what I thought it referred to too

He definitely gets calls. Balogun got a red for the same thing Messi did in another game.

[EarlG]

9. If you know how offside works in hockey

then consider that soccer’s rule is similar, except in hockey the blue line is visible and in a fixed position, whereas in soccer the blue line is invisible and it moves up and down the field in sync with whichever member of the defending team is standing closest to his own goal (not including the goalkeeper).

There are other complications (such as the question of whether an offside player is considered part of the play or not, as in the OP’s example) the rules for which tend to get fiddled with over time. But I’ve found the easiest way to explain basic offside is the “moving blue line” analogy.

Of course, it’s not very useful if the person you’re explaining it to doesn’t know hockey either.

[underpants]

3. When the ball is passed, the player who ends up receiving it

has to have two members of the opposite team between them and the goal. The key on that pic is that Messi received the pass. If his teammate had received it, that would be offsides.
That means they can’t be AHEAD in anyway of either player. Usually the goalie is in the goal area so that means there is a dance between the offensive player and the defender nearest to them. The defender may try to get them offside by running away from their own goal before the pass is made (risky) AND defenders will not go back too far towards their goal which limits how far the offensive player can venture towards the goal.

This doesn’t change even if there’s a melee right in front of the goal. Each pass (intended or not) is assessed.

I hope that helps.

[House of Roberts]

6. What if the defending team is the last to touch the ball in a melee?

Then an offensive player kicks it in? There's usually a lot of deflections in those situations.

[underpants]

10. The defender touching it resets everything and the ball is open to everyone

There was an instance of something like that in a game a few days ago. I forget which one.

So let’s say we are attacking. There’s a defender between us (and the goali is “on his line” - in the goal) I’m on the left and I shoot towards the far pole. You, the intrepid ball hound that you are, are ahead and realize you can redirect the ball and almost surely score. If the ball passes by the non goalie and you touch it first - offsides. If it hits the non goalie and it still gets to you - it’s onside.

If you never touch the ball, there’s no call at all.

GOALLL!!!!!

[aggiesal]

7. Not buying it. I've seen Offsides called under this same condition, plenty of times. ...

Where a pass is made to the Onside player yet an Offside player on the opposite side of the field is flagged for Offsides.

I'll supply an image when I see this condition again, to prove my point.

Also in the WC this year, I've seen fouls called outside the pentalty area, but the same foul not being called inside the penalty area. Almost like the referees were told not to award penalty kicks, unless a player is literally mugged or an obvious hand ball occurred.

Also, a lot more jersey pulling & arm/body holding then previous WC matches.

[underpants]

11. That was how I understood it when I played

What you described. Anyone offsides stops play but from what I’ve seen it’s changed.

I agree in the officiating. Canada and Morocco are beating the hell out of each other in this match. Oooh fight!!

[aggiesal]

12. No spolier alerts. Thanks n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. To be ruled offside, a player must be "in active play"

The official rule:

A player in an offside position at the moment the ball is played or touched* by a team-mate is only penalised on becoming involved in active play by:

interfering with play by playing or touching a ball passed or touched by a team-mate or

interfering with an opponent by:

preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or

challenging an opponent for the ball or

clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent or

making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball

or

gaining an advantage by playing the ball or interfering with an opponent when it has:

rebounded or been deflected off the goalpost, crossbar, match official or an opponent

been deliberately saved by any opponent

https://www.theifab.com/laws/latest/offside/#offside-position

In your OP picture, the ref has decided the yellow-circled Argentine player is not in active play. A moving video would be more helpful, but from the still, he and the Cape Verde player by him both look to be moving very slowly, away from the goal, and on the right (from the defender's point of view), while the pass is aimed at the left, so the ref's decision seems OK to me.

[aggiesal]

16. Here is why, I feel the way I do ...

1) The Goalie still has to account for the offside player not knowing which player is receiving the pass.
That extra split second decision, if incorrect, would give the player receiving the pass that extra time benefit where the goalie arrives late. All because he had to pay attention to an offside player.
If your description is correct, what's to stop teams from overloading the side where the offside player is, with a group of players offside, since they are not in the play?
2) I've seen multiple times where a play, just like this, in other games & without Messi obviously, was called offside.

In this case the offside player sees where the pass is going, turns and runs towards the goal.
In my opinion, this was an offside play, not called.

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. Years ago, the "in active play" qualification wasn't there

and pretty much everyone agrees that it has made for a better game. The keeper does see where the pass is going, so he is able to ignore those not in active play. What would they want to have a group of offside players who aren't in active play? It's a waste of players, because they're not active.

If you're saying that after this image you posted, the offside player turned: well, maybe he did, but we'd have to see where the defender by him went too, and their positions relative to Messi and the defender next to him, who are both already on their way to the goal, and thus likely to put 'yellow circle' back onside. And this is indeed what we find - by 0:09 in this video, the Cape Verde player near Messi is inside the penalty box, while 'yellow circle' is still outside it, and Messi is in front of them both. 'Yellow circle' remains behind Messi until the goal is scored, and does not take part in active play (and at that time, there are the keeper and 2 defenders between 'yellow circle' and the goal). The ref and VAR, who'd always review at a goal, were right, and there's no controversy about it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/videos/c5yz02je4n9o