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FIFA’s proposal to change the offside law hugely in favor of the attacking team starts trials in the Canadian Premier League this weekend after failing to win support from European soccer officials.
The so-called “daylight offside” idea pushed by Arsene Wenger in recent years gives a big advantage to attackers — too much, according to critics who say it will force teams to drop back and defend more cautiously.
The Canadian game trials starting on Saturday will judge attackers to be onside if any part of their body that can score a goal is level with the relevant defender. In effect, offside is called only when there is clear daylight between the attacker and defender.
Currently, attackers in top-tier games are judged offside by a slew of cameras in the stadium for the tiniest margin, often derisively called “armpit” or “toenail” offsides by fans.
“This is about positioning the Canadian Premier League at the forefront of innovation and contributing meaningfully to the global evolution of the game,” Canadian league commissioner James Johnson said in a statement.
Wenger, FIFA’s chief of global football development, has promoted the daylight idea for several years at soccer’s rules-making panel known as IFAB, which agreed in February to upgrade trials to the Canadian league.
The former England and Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher, now a CBS and Sky Sports pundit, suggested in 2024 that daylight offside “will be terrible for the game” and lead teams to be more negative rather than produce more goals.
Wenger’s daylight plan can be written into The Laws of The Game only if voted for by at least two of the four British soccer federations who sit with FIFA officials at the annual IFAB meeting.
That support was not yet won and a compromise option has already been aired that would judge an attacker offside only if their torso is beyond the defender.
The CPL’s eighth season begins Saturday with Forge FC hosting reigning champions Atletico Ottawa in Hamilton.
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