The relevancy of ball direction at offside situations. I never thought it was a big issue, but I was wrong. In matchdays, I post screenshots on my social channels like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. As Watford scores the 3-3 equaliser against Liverpool, I share a screenshot from television. The idea: can you see if the attacker in offside position is closer to the backline then the ball or the secondlast defender. But I got a lot of comments on the fact it is a backpass. In this offside case study I explain why the the ball direction is irrelevant. Please answer for yourself if the player is in offside position. A…

How to deal with encroachment at penalty kicks? An interesting situation in the game between Newcastle and Burton. This case study is written as educational story to show referees how to handle in particular situations based on the Laws of the Game. The situation. Newcastle has been awarded a penalty kick. Matt Richie takes it and scores, but the referee disallows the goal. Is it correct? And how does play need to be restarted? Have a look at the situation yourself first. The Laws of the Game The Laws of the Game explain how a referee needs to handle. “If a player of both teams infringes the Laws of the Game, the…

DOGSO by pulling the opponent’s shirt? That’s still a red card when it happens in the box. Watch the match situation in the last minute of FC Twente – Cambuur in the Eredivisie. Match situation A FC Twente winger swings the ball into the box from the left. Now think about the following question: What criteria do you need to look at if the defender is denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity? The ball passes the first defender and is about to reach striker Luc Castaignos, but he is not able to play the ball. If you have a closer look, you will see defender Jamiro Monteiro is pulling his shirt.…

Verratti uses a trick to pass the ball back to his goal in PSG’s game against Nantes. The goallie passes the ball to him. He walks back with the ball to the edge of the penalty area. Because he can’t pass the ball with his foot he gets down on his knees and heads the ball back to his goalie. Have you ever seen this before? How would you handle the situation? Look at a video of the match situation first, because that will give you a better idea of what happened. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccgpQBObhdc LOTG about trick to pass the ball The Laws of the Game are clear: “There are different circumstances…

A very interesting situation on the pitch: Jerry St. Juste is playing with lost footwear and scored a goal with one shoe. The Heerenveen player gets the ball on his own half, but looses one of his shoes right after his first touch. He dribbles towards the opponent’s goal and without being challenged he is able to shoot. And he scores. The referee allows the goal, but is it a correct call? If the video does not load well, check minute 4:24. That’s when this situation takes place. LOTG: playing with lost footwear The Laws of the Game are very clear (on page 42): “A player whose footwear or shinguard…

“Always communicate as refereeing team” – Bjorn Kuipers Last week I went to the book launch of Bjorn Kuipers. He also gave a lecture about managing a game as referee. I thought it would be useful to share these tips with you on a weekly basis. One tip every week. I’ll start off with an example from one of his Champions League encounters. “Always communicate as refereeing team”. Bjorn talked about an incident in the game between Juventus and Borussia Mönchengladbach. In the video below you’ll see a foul right in front of Kuipers. He let me listen to the voice communication with his assistant refereees. “Yellow card, Bjorn.” Then…