 "Explained: What is the Wenger Law and how offside rule can change")
Football could witness a major overhaul to the offside rule as FIFA is mulling making changes to the current law. The world governing body has confirmed that it is studying the so-called Wenger Law, which would change the criteria for offside calls and result in more goals.
The confirmation came through FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who admitted at the recent World Sport Summit in Dubai that a change to the offside rule is being mooted to make the sport more “attacking and attractive.”
What is the Wenger Law?
The former Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, who is FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development, has proposed that a player should be flagged offside only if he or she is clearly and entirely ahead of the trailing defender.
Such a change would help in eradicating multiple Video Assistant Referee (VAR) controversies related to offside, in which goals have been cancelled because the attacking player is marginally ahead of the defender. In some cases, a player has been flagged offside because a toe or knee is ahead of the defender.
“We are constantly reviewing the Laws of the Game and asking how football can be more attacking, more attractive,” Infantino said.
“Perhaps in the future, the attacker will need to be completely ahead to be offside,” he added.
Infantino, however, added that VAR was brought in to help referees correct their mistakes, and while there have been a few controversies, the global body would continue relying on technology to cut down on human errors.
“We introduced VAR to make football fairer, to give referees the chance to correct mistakes that millions of people can see,” he said.
Nonetheless, it will take a while for FIFA to make any changes to the offside rule, as any new proposal will have to undergo intense and long trials before being officially adopted.
In addition to planning changes to the offside rule, FIFA is considering steps to curb time-wasting, aiming to keep the game flowing, cut down interruptions and safeguard the amount of football actually played.
“We are also looking at ways to prevent time loss,” Infantino said.
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