Last man (football)

In Football (soccer), the last man is defined as being the last member of the defending side in a position to stop an attacking player having an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. This is typically the defender in front of the goalkeeper, but can also be the goalkeeper themselves.

Overview

"Last man" situations usually occur as the result of a "break"—a counter-attack made quickly after a failed attack by the opposing team. In these situations most of the defence of the defending team is out of position due to the failed attack, and are running back to catch up with the breaking attacker or attackers. This means that the attacking player is already ahead of most of the defence, and sometimes even all of the out-field defence. At this point the player will usually be one-on-one with the goalkeeper, which in general results in a goal being scored due to the relative ease of scoring from one-on-one situations.

As a result, the last man has the responsibility of running quickly enough to keep up with the breaking attacker, and being able to successfully tackle them, run them off the pitch, pressure them into making a mistake, or delay them until the rest of the defence is back in position. Because giving away a free kick or even a penalty is seen as not being as bad as giving away an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, the last man would, in the past, often deliberately foul the attacking player or handle the ball. After a number of high-profile incidents, including one in the 1980 FA Cup Final, the "last man foul"—any offence that denies the attacking player an obvious scoring opportunity—the sport's governing body, the Football League, recommended that such offences would be deemed "serious foul play", and would therefore receive a red card, in order to deter offenders.

The exact punishment for a last man foul is now determined by the situation surrounding the offence. The Laws of the Game state a player who commits an offence which denies an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, should be sent off. [cite web|title=FIFA: Laws of the Game (2006)|url=http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/federation/lotg2006_e_1581.pdf "A player, substitute or substituted player is sent off and shown the red card if he commits any of the following seven offences: [...] 4. denies the opposing team a goal or an obvious goalscoring opportunity by deliberately handling the ball (this does not apply to a goalkeeper within his own penalty area); 5. denies an obvious goalscoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards the player’s goal by an offence punishable by a free kick or a penalty kick."] If a goal is scored despite this challenge, referees should award the goal but not send the offending player off (unless the referee deems the challenge to be worthy of a caution and that is their second in the same match).

The terminology "last man" is no longer included in the Laws of the Game as there are now situations which are sanctioned as red card offences despite there being more than one man between the player and the goal.

Notes