FIFA’s head of global development Arsene Wenger will attempt to make a major change to the offside law, which could end a run of contentious decisions in the game since the introduction of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
Wenger, who was manager of Premier League club Arsenal for 22 years, wants a player to be deemed onside if any part of their body that can legitimately score a goal is level or behind the last defender.
It will flip the current rule which states the player is in an offside position if any part of their body they can score with is beyond the line of the last defender.
The use of video review has been a source of constant criticism since its recent introduction, including concern about the time to take decisions and the precision with which offsides are judged.
The system sparked another controversy last week in the Premier League when Wolverhampton Wanderers had a goal ruled out against Leicester City after Pedro Neto’s heel was adjudged to be fractionally offside in the build-up.
Wenger will recommend the change during the world soccer’s lawmaking body IFAB’s annual general meeting in Belfast on February 29.
“You will be not offside if any part of the body that can score a goal is in line with the last defender, even if other parts of the attacker’s body are in front,” Wenger told the British media.
“That will sort it out and you will no longer have decisions about millimetres and a fraction of the attacker being in front of the defensive line.”
Each of the four Home Nations – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – has one of the eight votes, with FIFA holding the other four.
Any law change needs six votes in favour to go through.
If Wenger gets his three-quarter majority, the new law could come into effect on June 1, 12 days before the start of the European Championship.
MarkfromCroydon
Roar Pro
By its very nature, VAR for offside has an inherent flaw that means it is not and cannot be 100% accurate. Unless there is a sensor within the ball that measures the exact milisecond that it leaves contact with the player passing, you cannot know the exact moment that the ball leaves the foot/head/whatever. the only thing you can tell is when you see a 'gap' between the ball and contact point of the passing player on the screen. this may take 1,2,3 or whatever miliseconds and 1,2,3 or whatever 'frames' of film or whatever they use to record the vision. the receiving player may have been onside but moved 1, 2, 3 cm or whatever in this intervening period of delay between ball leaving contact with passing player and gap being visible on t.v screen monitor. If VAR is to be retained for offside calls, then there must be research/measurement work done in the off season to find out the actual average margin of error that is inherent in every VAR analysis, and then build that margin of error in to the measurement tool.
MarkfromCroydon
Roar Pro
Ridiculous suggestion by Wenger. The change to the offside law he is proposing is a change that is not able to be adjudicated by a human being on the sideline. The current law allows that a linesman can judge what he/she CAN SEE. the change proposed by Wenger is asking someone to judge what they CAN'T SEE. It is a theoretical impossibility. Wenger is saying in effect, linesman cannot ever make another offside call, and only VAR can be used to judge offside.
Nemesis
Guest
Of course it doesn't solve the issue completely. Nothing will solve the issue completely, unless you put a microchip into every player's body & track these microchips with GPS & have a computer making the offside decision. Wenger thinks the best option is to give the attacker the benefit of the doubt, so he's providing a better solution using current methods.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Correct. It won't solve disputes because we're just shifting the decision point. Nothing gained on that front. But what is gained is that a marginal offside today would be play-on tomorrow. The idea that the benefit of the doubt should go to the attacker as it is often stated would be enshrined in the rules rather than being applied arbitrarily. That is a step forward IMO and helps refs who too often would be reluctant to to apply the 'benefit of the doubt' to the attacker lest they were pilloried after the match.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
It's a subtle change, but when you think it through, it makes some sense.
Neil
Roar Rookie
Should be made simpler, the attacker should not be judged offside unless there is clear daylight (ahead of the defender) between the attacker and defender. It would be far simpler to adjudicate and lots more goals.
Waz
Roar Rookie
This solves nothing. It just moves the debate further forward by a few centimetres.
Robin
Guest
Just scrap FIFA
Nemesis
Guest
Wenger is not proposing a "huge VAR change". He's proposing a change to the way the Offside Law is interpreted. Instead of an attacker being ruled offside if a toenail is offside, he's proposing the attacker being ruled onside if a toenail is onside. i.e. he's giving the benefit of the doubt to the attacker, which is how the law was meant to be interpreted when it's a close call
At work
Roar Rookie
Just scrap VAR
Steve
Guest
Just scrap the offside rule