Fifa President Gianni Infantino hinted at an evolution of the offside rule, advocated by Frenchman Arsène Wenger, with a view to making the game “more attractive”, during the World Sports Summit in Dubai.
“We continue to look at how the rules can evolve to make the game more offensive, more attractive,” explained the leader of the world football body on Monday, stressing that “interruptions of the game must be reduced to a minimum”.
“We look at the offside rule, which has evolved over the years, and which currently requires the attacker to be behind the (last) defender or on the same line,” Mr Infantino said.
“Perhaps in the future”, the player will have to be “completely in front to be judged offside”, he added. In other words, there would no longer be an offside for a leg or an arm in front of the last defender.
A reform applied from next season?
This development, favorable to attackers, is defended by Arsène Wenger, former manager of Arsenal and current director of football development within Fifa. This project, already tested in youth tournaments, will have to be approved by Ifab, the guardian body of the rules of the game whose annual meeting is scheduled for January 20 in London, then validated by Fifa meeting in general assembly.
Even if it is hypothetical to see the new rule applied from the summer during the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, the Spanish sports daily AS mentioned on Tuesday that it would come into force next season.
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