Berlin [Germany], April 1: FIFA will trial "daylight offside" in the Canadian Premier League (CPL) as the ruling body aims to make matches more attractive and end a long offside debate.
FIFA said on Tuesday that the trial will start on Saturday when the new Canadian season kicks off. There is also a second trial in which coaches can challenge a limitited number of referee decisions.
Under current rules, a player is offside if any body part is closer to goal than the last defender. In the trial an attacker will only ruled offside if there is a gap, or "daylight", between him and the last defender.
The change has been pushed by FIFA's global development head Arsene Wenger and could benefit attacking teams. But critics say it could lead to teams dropping back and playing with more caution.
"This is an important pilot. By testing this new interpretation in a professional competition, we can better understand its impact, including in terms of improving clarity and the flow of the game and promoting attacking play," Wenger said.
Some offside reviews have slowed down games because they took a lot of time, and fans find it difficult to understand when a player is ruled offside by the tiniest of margins of for instance a toe length.
The trial has been approved by the rule-making International Football Association Board which would then also have to nod it off to become part of the Laws of the Game.
The other trial in the CPL will be Football Video Support (FVS) under which the referee review on-field incidents if called for them by a team coach.
FIFA said the coaches could challenge "when they feel there has been a clear and obvious error in match-changing incidents such as goal/no goal, penalty/no penalty, direct red cards or mistaken identity." FIFA said that FVS is not designed to replace the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) but "empowers referees with critical decision-making support."
Source: Qatar Tribune
