TOENAIL offsides are set to be eradicated in a proposed shake-up of football laws.
Arsene Wenger and refs’ chief David Elleray are behind the rule change to be discussed by the International FA Board today.
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It would see the offside line determined by the upper torso of attacking and defending players.
SunSport revealed in 2020 how former Arsenal boss Wenger, now Fifa’s head of global football development, was pushing for a ‘daylight’ rule.
That would mean players are deemed onside if any part of their body overlapped the last defender.
But Wenger and other Ifab chiefs agree such a system would balance offside calls too far in favour of the attacking side.
And trials for this new upper torso law have taken place over the past five years.
The new idea will make offside calls easy to be determined — whether it is in the Prem or on park pitches.
And it is likely to be endorsed at today’s meeting in Belfast, where video reviews and editing the six-second goalkeeper limit are also on the agenda.
SunSport has been told Ifab is ready to endorse formal trials from as soon as next season.
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And a new offside law could potentially be introduced within three years.
The development comes as Semi-Automated Offside Technology was used in English football for the first time in Aston Villa’s FA Cup tie with Cardiff last night.
It incorporates 30 special high-speed cameras and will be introduced for the last nine weeks of the Prem season.
Ifab members will today also bring in-stadium referee announcements of VAR decisions into law.
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