Former Gunners manager and currently the FIFA’s head of global development, Arsene Wenger has started to press for the changes to the offside rule which is becoming unbearable day by day for both players and supporters. The manager of “Invincibles”, Wenger wants a player to be considered as onside if any part of their body that can be used to score a goal is behind or level compared to the relevant defender chasing him down.
Wenger has made comments regarding the offside and VAR because of the number of goals that have been disallowed because of the player being fractionally offside by millimetres. One of the recent things which might have disturbed the FIFA Global Development Head would be Oliver Giroud’s header against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United. where the attacker’s foot was marginally offside compared to that of Harry Maguire. Also, Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino had a goal disallowed because of his armpit being offside.
Arsene Wenger said:
“The most difficult [issue] that people have [with VAR] is the offside rule,” Wenger said at the Laureus Sports Awards in Berlin. “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, so you are offside because you can score with that. Instead, you will be not be 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.
“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.”
The Existing Law:
“A player is in an offside position if any part of the head, body or feet is in the opponents’ half (excluding the halfway line) and any part of the head, body or feet is nearer to the opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent.”
Next Steps:
Any changes that are proposed will be looked after and approved by the law-making body of football, the International Football Association Board, before making any changes on the field. In IFAB, The Football Associations of the four UK home nations and four FIFA representatives sit on the board and passing a motion requires a three-quarters majority if changes are to be implemented. The IFAB’s Annual General Meeting is scheduled for 29 February but former Gunners’ manager Arsene Wenger’s proposal will not be voted on and will not be in place for Euro 2020, which had been thought possible.
On the other hand, the IFAB’s general secretary Lukas Brud gave his views to the standard sports outlet, Sky Sports News
“There will be no law change regarding offside at this month’s annual general meeting. We welcome Mr Wenger’s views and look forward to discussing it, as a group. But our AGM is a point of discussion on offside and any law change will follow only after further dialogue in the game over the coming months.”
