Football Offsides Stats 2024

🍃Law 11, offside, has undergone quite the evolution since it was first established in 1863 by the Football Association (FA). To begin, a player was offside unless three players (including the goalkeeper) of the opposing side were in front of him. The idea was to encourage rather primitive English ideals of how the game should be played, where physical power and strength were celebrated much more than technique.

ꦐThe law was tinkered with before the next major alteration came in 1925 following years of dullness. Teams had become so adept at catching opponents offside that goals were hard to come by. Change was required and the FA opted to reduce the number of players the attacker had to be behind from three to two. The change brought about an upsurge in goals and thus, entertainment, that is before the same problems were encountered as revolutionary outfits such as Rinus Michels’ Ajax and Netherlands sides began to deploy the offside trap with tremendous effect. The thrilling nature of Total Football, however, ensured that the interest of supporters was retained.

🍎The sterility of Italia ’90, though, forced another change to the law. Now, a player was onside if they were level with the second-to-last defender. Then, in 2005, it was clarified that a player is offside only if a part of his body with which he is legally able to play the ball is beyond the penultimate defender. The alterations favoured the forward, who could outwit both defenders and linesmen with savvy play. It’s important to consider that players cannot be offside if they’re positioned in their own half. This has been the case since 1907.

ꦿThe introduction of technology, most notably VAR, saw the law scrutinised further. During the early usage of VAR in the Premier League, a multitude of goals were ruled following the technology’s intervention. So IFAB clarified ahead of the 2021/22 season that a player’s shoulder is not part of the arm for handball, and when deciding an offside call ‘the upper boundary of the arm is in line with the bottom of the armpit’.

💞That’s the latest tinkering of a seemingly ever imperfect but pivotal law.

The table above shows the tally of offsides for each player, and is sorted by the one who has been caught offside the most at the top. Apart from that, the table shows how many minutes each player has played with starts and substitute appearances noted, too. We have also calculated how many times a player is caught offside per 90 minutes played🧸, as well as how long, on average, it takes a player to be flagged for this offence.

This way, you can easily spot the players across some of Europe’s most popular leagues who are constantly caught offside. We suggest looking out for a combination of low minutes per offside or a high number of offsides per 90 minutes when it comes to picking out a betting option.

You may also filter the list to only see players from the Premier League or any other league you wish. The tool is great for managing personalised content for a particular team or player. If you type in a country, the names appearing in the list will belong to players who play in that country🅷. For instance, if you type in England, you will see a list with players playing in the Premier League, Championship, League One and League Two.

ಌEmmanuel Adebayor was caught offside 328 times in his Premier League career, the most since 2006.

🔯Among current players, Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy has been caught offside the most times. He’s been flagged 239 times, which ranks fourth since records began.

🦋Other current Premier League players Christian Benteke (223) and Romelu Lukaku (196) also sit in the top ten.

🌠Marlon King holds the record for most offsides in a single Premier League season (68 in 2008/09).