A midfielder (Team A) passes the ball towards an attacker (Team A) who is in an offside position and challenges for the ball. After that, a defender (Team B) pulls the attacker’s shirt outside the penalty area and, in the opinion of the referee, stops a promising attack (SPA). The referee stops play and notices that the assistant referee has indicated an offside offence. What is the correct decision?

Question

Accepted Answer

The referee awards an indirect free kick to Team B because the offside offence occurred before the foul. As the attacker was in an offside position, there was no promising attack, so the defender cannot be cautioned for SPA (no yellow card).