July 02, (THEWILL) – The world governing body for football, FIFA, is poised to undertake trials of new offside rule proposals following persistent calls for change from Arsene Wenger, the former Arsenal manager and current Chief of Global Football Development at FIFA.
Wenger has been vocal in his desire for an alteration to the existing offside rules, which often lead to lengthy VAR reviews and disallowed goals, due to narrow margins. Under the current regulations, a player is considered offside if any part of their body capable of playing the ball is ahead of the last defender.
Wenger advocates for a more lenient approach, suggesting that the player’s entire body should be required to be ahead of the last defender to be deemed offside. FIFA has responded to Wenger’s recommendations and plans to initiate trials of the proposed changes in Sweden. The new rules will first be implemented in Sweden’s men’s Under-21 and women’s Under-19 leagues, with subsequent trials scheduled for leagues in the Netherlands and Italy.
Once the trial period concludes, FIFA will evaluate the impact and feasibility of the modified offside rules. The findings will then be presented to the International Football Association Board (IFAB), the authority responsible for approving any permanent alterations to the laws of the game.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
