Could the new offside rule change football as we know it?

FIFA are set to completely revamp the offside rule as we know it, according to several media reports, in a move that is set to radically change the way the sport is played.

The new rule would mean that the entire body of an attacking player would have to be in front of the defender to be ruled offside, something that would see the amount of offside calls made be significantly reduced.

Up until now, the offside rule dictated that even if a player was ahead of the last player of the opponent team by a mere inch, the player would be adjudged offside.

At the 2022 Qatar World Cup, a recently introduced semi-automated offside technology assisted the Video Assistant Referee in scrapping out numerous goals for the thinnest of margins. This left fans agitated that players were unjustly being penalized for no 'real' advantage gained.

Figure 1: During the World Cup match between Argentina and Saudi Arabia, Lautaro Martinez was adjudged offside. According to the new proposed offside rule, he would have been regarded as onside.

Arsene Wenger, A Pioneer of Change

There is a familiar face who is a known proponent of the need for this change in the offside rule - former Arsenal coach and FIFA's current Chief of Global Football Development, Arsene Wenger, who has been vocal about this.

“The most difficult [issue] that people have [with VAR] is the offside rule,” Wenger said at the Laureus Sports Awards in 2020. “You have had offsides by a fraction of a centimetre, literally by a nose. It is the time to do this quickly... There is room to change the rule and not say that a part of a player’s nose is offside..."

Figure 2: The line of play in the picture above would be adjudged onside according to the new offside rule. Here, despite majority of the attacker's body being ahead of the last defender, his trailing leg is still behind the last defender.

The Netherlands, Italy and Sweden are expected to test this new rule out in a few games in the coming months. Sweden’s men’s Under-21 and women’s Under-21 leagues will become the first in the world to experiment this new offside rule.

This new offside rule will only officially be implemented privy to approval from FIFA and International Football Association Board (IFAB).

Footballing World At Odds

Football netizens have contrasting opinions on the new proposed change. Some fans suggest that this change has been long overdue and that ruling out goals for the thinnest of margins which provided no 'real' advantage to the attacker.

Whereas some fans feel that the new proposed rule only complicates things further and provides an unfair advantage to attackers and that FIFA is gnawing at the traditional roots of the game.