Changes to football offside rules: a revolutionary move by Arsene Wenger and FIFA
Soccer arbitration is evolving, changing and trying to adapt to the demands of soccer. That is at least what the IFAB organization does, which is affiliated with FIFA and is responsible for all things refereeing. FIFA President Gianni Infantino has placed too much emphasis on the IFAB and has sometimes made risky decisions.
At the beginning of each season, changes emerged through various tests that were carried out over time. According to the MARCA report, the next revolution comes with the handball and the offside of Arsene Wenger. After listening to the interested parties, the French coach presented his idea to the IFAB to be tested in the competitions that will take place in Italy and Sweden in the coming weeks.
Infantino proposed to Wenger, FIFA development director, to find a solution aimed at improving offensive football. Wenger is believed to have found this solution. Wenger believes that football will be more exciting and proposes to change the offside rule. His idea is to allow the striker to be in front of the defender, but at least part of his body should be in line with the last defender.
Under the new offside rule, no part of the offensive player’s body must be in line with the last defender for a position to be offside.
THE OFFSIDES WILL BE REDUCED IN HALF
Wenger states that, according to a study carried out in the Premier League, offside situations will be reduced by half.
Authorized IFAB sources told MARCA: “At some point measures will be taken and it will be determined that there may not be five or six centimeters offside. Everything is under review.” saying. Given the average of four offsides per game, with the rule change that number is expected to drop to just two, which could make the game more offensive.
FIRST COMPANY IN 2021…
This initiative started in 2021 and is now becoming a reality through various FIFA trials. The first steps are quite similar with the implementation of VAR, semi-automatic offside and other innovations made in recent years.
Infantino, who never hid his desire for change, said: “We want football to be more offensive every day. It has only been changed twice in its 135-year history. Arsene Wenger raised the possibility that even if the striker were up front, a body part he could mark would be in line with the defense and there would be no offside. In this way we achieve a much more offensive football”. saying.