Football governing body, FIFA is set to trial a significant change to the offside rule ahead of the new season – following a suggestion from legendary former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
The 73-year-old departed the Emirates Stadium in 2018 after 22 years in charge of the Gunners.
Since leaving north London, the Frenchman has been working with FIFA as their Chief of Global Football Development. For several years now, Wenger has been campaigning for a change to the offside rule – and his efforts now look set to be rewarded.
How will the offside rule change under Wenger’s proposals?
At present, a player is deemed to be offside if any part of their body with which they can play the ball is ahead of the last defender.
This has frequently meant that players have been ruled offside by VAR over the most ridiculously small margins, something that many observers – including Wenger – feel goes against the spirit of the game.
Under the altered laws, players will only be flagged offside where their entire body, with which they can play the ball, is ahead of the last defender.
It’s a change that would undoubtedly see a massive reduction in the number of offside calls during matches.
Per a report from Sports Joe, the new rule will be first trialled in Sweden with the nation’s men’s Under-21 and women’s Under-19 leagues being used as testing grounds.
The experiment will then move on to competitions in the Netherlands and Italy.
An image highlighting how the revised laws would work has gone viral and fans are definitely split on the idea
The FIFA rule change board will meet after the trial to discuss its impact.
There’s undoubtedly a long way to go before we see the amended rules in Europe’s top leagues – not least because any permanent laws of the game would need to be ratified by the International Football Association Board.
If it does get adopted more widely, it would certainly change the game as we know it – and lead to a drastically reduced role for VAR technology.
