New football rules now apply in Canada’s Premier League. FIFA is testing an offside revolution and alternative ways to use the video assistant.
FIFA is moving forward with its plans for an offside revolution in professional football in Canada. In cooperation with the world association, the Canadian Premier League (CPL) will start a test run of the so-called “daylight offside” at the start of its season on April 4th. FIFA hopes, among other things, that further development will lead to more goals.
“This is an important pilot project,” said Arsene Wenger. The FIFA director has been pursuing this plan for years. “By testing this new design in professional competition, we can better understand its impact, including in terms of increasing clarity and fluidity of play, as well as promoting attacking play.”
Offside is when there is a gap
The new approach states: A player is not offside if a part of the body with which he can score a goal is on the same line as the second-to-last defender. The player is only offside if there is a gap (“daylight”) between him and the defender. The player must therefore be completely behind the second to last opponent.
The aim of the rule is, among other things, to make football “more offensive and attractive” – that’s what FIFA President Gianni Infantino said at the end of last year. The idea: Attackers could position themselves more courageously and therefore achieve goals more often.
discussions about Centimeter decisions
The introduction of semi-automatic offside detection meant that offside positions were penalized even if an attacker exceeded the “same height” as the defender by just a centimeter. Such decisions often lead to discussions in the Bundesliga.
However, there will also be centimeter decisions when it comes to “daylight offside”, just in a different constellation. In addition, the new rule is likely to mean a big change for referees, assistant referees, players and coaches. FIFA will now be monitoring in Canada to what extent the game is changing and whether the teams might be deeper and play more defensively.
The rules keepers of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) recently decided at their annual general meeting in February, “to continue the ongoing attempts regarding offside”.
VAR with Challenge system
A new challenge system is also being tested in the highest Canadian league as an extension to the video assistant (VAR). The coaches receive a limited number of review requests; not all game-decisive scenes are checked automatically. However, the fourth official continues to check each goal for possible violations by the attacking team in advance.
