IFAB takes final decision on the new proposed offside rule

The International Football Association Board (IFAB) has rejected proposals to change football’s current offside law, confirming that the existing interpretation will remain in place for the foreseeable future.

The decision was made during IFAB’s annual business meeting after extensive discussions on potential reforms. The proposal which was presented by Arsène Wenger’s “daylight offside” idea, which suggested that a player should only be penalised if there was a clear gap between them and the last defender.

The proposal aimed to encourage attacking football and reduce marginal VAR decisions, IFAB deemed it too radical and potentially disruptive to the game’s balance.

The board acknowledged that further trials or research could still take place in selected competitions, but any modification would require extensive testing and universal approval before being added to the Laws of the Game.

As a result, the current offside rule where any goal-scoring part of the body ahead of the second-last defender constitutes offside remains unchanged. IFAB stated that while future trials may still be considered, no immediate amendments to the law will be introduced.

The focus will shift toward improving match flow and refining the use of VAR rather than altering one of football’s most fundamental rules.

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