DID Press: Gianni Infantino, president of world football’s governing body FIFA, said during the Global Sports Summit in Dubai that significant changes to the offside law are under review — reforms that could increase goal-scoring and make matches more fluid. He noted that FIFA aims to reduce unnecessary stoppages and improve the flow of play.
Under the current rule, a player is offside if any goal-scoring part of the attacker’s body is ahead of the last defender at the moment the pass is played. The proposal being studied would change that standard so that an attacker is ruled offside only when their entire goal-scoring body is beyond the last defender.
Today, body parts that can legally score — such as the feet, torso and head — are counted in offside decisions, while the arms and hands are excluded. Exceptions would continue to apply on goal kicks, throw-ins and penalty kicks.