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FIFA set to trial new offside rule ahead of 2023/24 season leaving fans with mixed feelings

FIFA are getting set to trial a new offside rule ahead of the 2023/24 season leaving fans with mixed feelings on its introduction.

The international governing body of association football are looking to implement yet another seismic rule change to football, this time reconstructing the offside rule, in the hope of helping make VAR calls easier.

The new law – at first will be trialled in The Netherlands, Italy and Sweden – will see a player deemed offside only if their entire body, with which they can play the ball, is ahead of the last defender.

At present, the offside rule states that a player is off should ANY part of their body, with which they can play the ball, be ahead of the final defender.

Since video-assisted refereeing (VAR) was brought in a number of seasons ago, supporters have had to endure officials deliberating over the finest of margins when it comes to offside calls, making it a frustrating experience for those watching at home or inside the stadium with no clue as to what’s going on or what is being said.

This new law however aimed to eradicate the guesswork involved in determining offsides, hand the advantage back towards the attacking team and enable a more free-flowing and exciting spectacle for fans.

According to DirecTV Sports, FIFA will first trial this new rule in Sweden, with the nation’s men’s Under-21 and women’s Under-19 leagues the chosen test subjects.

The new law will then be put into action in stages across Italy and the Netherlands, with FIFA’s rule change board to assess its’ impact.

Ex-Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was the man who conjured up the rule change, presenting it to FIFA President Gianni Infantino in March 2021 and reportedly hoped for the new law to be in place in time for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but as we all saw, that didn’t happen.

Now it seems that FIFA are putting it into action and before we know it, should it be successful, we may start seeing it in the Premier League.

Just a few weeks ago, the Premier League voted for VAR changes but snubbed a popular World Cup offside system that cut down the time to work out a decision.

The tournament in Qatar saw the semi-automated technology brought in, a chip in the centre of the matchball combined with Fifa’s Semi-Automated Offside Technology seeing a host of cameras generate a 3D image of a situation to determine whether an attacker was offside.

That image is then shown on big screens in the stadium and on live television broadcasts and overall, the system received huge amounts of praise throughout the World Cup, whilst UEFA also used the technology throughout the recent European season.

But despite it going down well, the Premier League bizarrely voted against its introduction. It was expected that the English top-flight would use the technology for the forthcoming campaign, much like LaLiga in Spain.

Yet, the option to bring semi-automated offside technology into the Premier League was seemingly not up for discussion for the Annual Meeting of all 20 top-flight clubs.

There were suggestions that there are concerns the current version of the technology could soon be out of date.

Arsene Wenger said prior to the World Cup: “Automated means it goes directly from the signal to the linesman and the linesman has on his watch a red light that tells him offside or not offside.

“At the moment, we have situation where the players are on lines to see if they are offside or not. On average, the time we have to wait is around 70 seconds, sometimes one minute 20 seconds, sometimes a little bit longer when the situation is very difficult to appreciate.

“It is so important because we see many celebrations are cancelled after that for marginal situations and that’s why I believe it is a very important step.”

It seems the Premier League continue to make it tough for all those involved, when there are systems and ideas out there to make decision making, offside calls, VAR experience better, but they opt not to go for it.

With semi-automated offsides aren’t being brought into the Premier League for the time being, there are still some small changes to the VAR system.

It’s reported that four extra offside cameras are set to be used at every game in the Premier League next season in an effort to overcome the problem of a ‘blind spot’ in the current technology after complaints of Bukayo Saka’s goal being allowed to stand against Liverpool in 2022/23 despite seemingly coming back from an offside position. That stood due to a lack of a correct angle.

And Wolves had a goal ruled out in the FA Cup tie against Liverpool but once again, enough images of the incident were not available to officials at Stockley Park.

As mentioned, FIFA are set to trial new offside rule ahead of the 2023/24 season, leaving fans with mixed feelings…

@leemasuka: I think they should say any part of the body that is not permitted to score should not be offside. How can a hand be considered offside as if it were to score. Alternatively , the part of the body that touches the ball first should be the one considered to be offside or not.

@im2rnadoo: FIFA try not to change rules challenge (level impossible)

@alexdsmiff: Not sure what the point of this is. Whether is the current law or this interpretation, players will still be on or offside by a millimetre because it’s in essence a line decision. So it won’t stop the perceived issue with players being on or offside ‘by a toe nail’

@dannyknight85: Surely this is just moving the line. We will still have same problems. Whereas last year you say a toe was playing them offside it will now be a heel playing them onside

@richi_koyolski: Big NO! That is offside, the whole body should count not some 2 ich boot Pixel

@ColmWray: This is better. There should be the most advantage possible to the attacking player. More goals= better sport

@tone3477: New FIFA rule? The Premier League implemented this a few years ago. But only for the “6”.

@75_chicoIron:
Been saying this for years we want
More goals advantage attacker

@_UtdDanny: The tears when a player is onside because his full body is off but his toe isn’t

@ROBINHOOD_PARTY: Thats sensible, the off side rule was introduced to eliminate goal hanging. And even though your example shows the maximum advantage to the attacking player it’s acceptable.

@CardiffDevils71: This works for me. It‘s unfair when the attacker and defender are often running in opposite directions and thus their bodies are leaning in the direction they are running to penalize the attacker if there is a partial overlap. Unless there is a clear gap, it‘s onside!

@Chris90c: This is what I have been wanting for ages. Advantage to the attackers don’t forget Both teams get the same advantage. I would rather go see a 5-5 draw than a boring 0-0 draw

@false_iden_tt: I think the rule should be if your lower body is not in front then it’s legal because currently it’s okay but too strict if an attacker is leaning forward then he gets offside but already being a step forward with defenders having to turn back to catch up is a bit too much.

@ebencliff27: This is very good, during penalty kicks only one of the Goalkeeper’s foot must be on the line to make a valid save, same as this rule.. Once a body part is in line with the last defender the goal must stand… even though the player could be ahead

@britman1356: This would make so much more sense. Instead of semi marginal offsides this would mean they have clearly been caught on the wrong side of the line

@1894andrew: Did someone look at it and really think how could we make this more complicated

@DetritusBramble: I don’t think this is a necessary change to simplify the offside law, although it obviously would. The number of goals could literally double overnight, which would be interesting…

@Joe__Monty: Exactly, we use the the whole of the ball over the line principle so why not for offsides?

@Paolo67289281: New offside rule? This is how it used to be ffs. Should never have changed the rules.

@jamiejammo7: Nope, keep it as is now. This will only make the situation more difficult.

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