Offside and VAR: Is Arsene Wenger’s daylight idea the solution?
After every Ifab meeting, you will find some reference to a discussion about offside.
So unconvinced has Ifab been that, even after all this time, Wenger’s law has not been offered up to associations to try out in senior football.
That would be the next step. It will not be parachuted directly into the World Cup or the Premier League next season.
Low-level trials were held in Italy’s under-18 championship in 2023, and in youth competitions in the Netherlands.
BBC Sport has been told that the results were largely positive, though there were some concerns there is too much of an advantage to the attacker.
These are minor competitions and it must be used in real competitions, including those with VAR. The game need to know how tactics would be adjusted and impact properly assessed.
Trials exist to avoid unintended consequences. Wenger’s law could produce too many goals, or it could cause a reduction.
There are plenty of examples of failed tests.
In 2000-01, a free-kick was moved forward 10 yards if there was an act of dissent. That proved too confusing in leagues which were not aware of rugby, where it originated.
There is the ABBA penalty shootout from 2017-18. It alternated the order of kicks but confused players and supporters.
In the 1987-88 season, the National League – then known as the Conference – tried out a tweak which meant a player could not be offside from a free-kick. Defences packed the six-yard box. An attempt to promote more attacking play led to more defensive tactics.
The same could happen at set-pieces with Wenger’s law. Defenders could be forced to drop deeper to prevent an attacker getting space in behind, especially at free-kicks.
Wenger’s law is often visualised as two players running down the centre of the pitch. But there would be a greater impact, and advantage to the attacker, inside the penalty area.
An alternate suggestion has been to use the torso as the reference point for offside, ignoring the feet and the head. Just how that could work in practice for assistant referees, especially in a crowd of bodies, is unclear.
If trials were successful, realistically it would be 2028-29 before a change would be rolled out across the game.
Is Wenger’s law a good idea? Right now it is a question which is impossible to answer.