A late offside decision in Tunisia Under-20s’ 1-1 draw with Libya in the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations youth qualifiers caused angry protests from the Libyan team on Saturday.
The call came in stoppage time, when Tunisia goalkeeper Salim Bouaskar had moved into Libya’s penalty area for a corner as Tunisia searched for a winning goal that could have kept their qualification hopes alive.
Libya regained possession and launched a rapid counter-attack towards an unguarded Tunisian goal. Their players appeared to have a significant numerical advantage, with four Libyan players running against only one Tunisian opponent.
However, the assistant referee raised his flag for offside against the Libyan forward as the move developed. The decision prompted strong complaints from Libya’s players and coaching staff, with several members of the team moving towards the official to protest.
Despite the intensity of the reaction, the decision was consistent with the laws of the game.
The Libyan attacker was approximately one metre beyond the halfway line and, at that moment, only Bouaskar was behind him among the Tunisian players. The goalkeeper had advanced into the opposition penalty area to take part in the corner, leaving the Libyan forward in an offside position when the ball was played to him.
The laws state that a player is offside if any part of their head, body or legs is in the opponents’ half, excluding the halfway line, and closer to the goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent, provided the other conditions for interfering with play are met.
In this instance, the attacker would have avoided offside if another Tunisian player had been behind him, or if the ball had been passed before he crossed the halfway line.
The match ended 1-1 after Tunisia took the lead through Dhirar Brik in the 24th minute. Libya levelled through Moussa Ibrahim in the 64th minute.
The result ended Tunisia’s hopes of competing for a place in the tournament, while Libya missed the opportunity to claim three points that would have given them an additional boost before their final match against Morocco on Tuesday.