The Canadian Premier League (CPL) will become the first professional competition to trial Arsene Wenger’s “daylight” offside rule when its new season gets underway in April.
The trial, led by FIFA and approved by the International Football Association Board (IFAB), will test the so-called “daylight” principle, a shift designed to help the flow of a game and promote attacking play.
Under the new approach, an attacking player will be ruled offside only if there is a clear gap, or "daylight", between the attacker and defender.
The attacker will be considered onside as long as one part of their body that can be used to score – not their hands and arms – is in line with, or behind, the second-to-last defender.
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"By introducing a clearer visual threshold, the trial is aimed at restoring a greater attacking advantage and boosting the flow of matches," say FIFA.
Arsene Wenger, who is FIFA's chief of global football development and has been pushing the new offside rule, has described the trial as an "important pilot".
“By testing this new interpretation in a professional competition, we can better understand its impact, including in terms of improving clarity and the flow of the game and promoting attacking play," he said.
"We look forward to analysing the results of the trial phase. We thank the Canadian Premier League and the Canadian Soccer Association for their willingness to support FIFA with this pilot and for providing their competition.”
James Johnson, the Canadian Premier League's CEO, has praised the pilot.
"We like to do things that are different. We want to create some debates and also make sure the CPL is at the heart of a global football conversation, because we're innovative and that's how we want to be seen," he said.
"We want to contribute to world football. And when you have someone like Arsene Wenger, who's leading football discussions, we want to support that."
Johnson added: "If we can play a part we think it won't only be good for Canadian soccer, but also for world football, then I am all for it."
Canadian Premier League will also trial 'review card' to challenge decisions
As part of the trial, the CPL will also test Football Video Support (FVS), a video replay system for key refereeing calls.
FVS does not use dedicated video match officials. Instead, the so-called 'onus' falls on the two head coaches, who are allowed to make a limited number of review requests per match when they feel there has been a clear and obvious error in match-changing incidents.
These incidents can include goal or no goal, direct red cards or mistaken identity.
To make a review request, the coaches will be required to give a card to the fourth official immediately after the relevant incident to avoid unnecessary delays and to conform with the Laws of the Game, which do not allow a decision to be changed once play has restarted.
Topics: FIFA, Arsene Wenger
Jack Kenmare