The influence of the offside rule on players’ positional dynamics in soccer small-sided games

We conclude that the offside rule impacts players' positional behavior in SSGs, inducing a less exploratory behavior mainly in the width axis. For this reason, we recommend caution when interpreting previous results on SSG when the offside rule was not applied since adopting this rule might elicit different responses to the players . Coaches can manipulate this rule aiming to achieve specific tactical goals for the training session.