Will Wenger's Law Offside Rule Apply?

Entering 2026 means another important football event, besides the World Cup, is coming up. This year, the offside rule could potentially change following FIFA's discussion of the Wenger Law proposal. The discussion will take place at the annual meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in London, England, mid-month.

After a long period of discussion, the potential for changes to the offside rule has now entered a new phase. The trigger was FIFA President Gianni Infantino's comments at the World Sports Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, suggesting that his team might review the offside rule.

"In the future, an attacker may have to be completely in front of the defender to be considered offside," Infantino said, as quoted by BeIN Sport.

Infantino's remarks were the main points of the offside rule proposal put forward by former Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger, now FIFA's Head of Global Football Development. The current offside rule states that a player is offside when any part of their body, excluding their hands and arms, is closer to the goal than the ball and the last player.

The offside rule has sparked much debate, particularly in the cases of goals from Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappé. Both top European strikers had their goals disallowed after their bodies were just a fraction of a millimeter in front of the offside line.

Since 2019, Wenger has proposed a new offside rule, better known as Wenger's Law. The essence of the offside rule in Wenger's Law is that a player can only be declared offside if their entire body crosses the offside line.

Even if a small part of the attacker's body remains in line with the defender, they will not be considered offside. This is because the offside line will be drawn between the attacker and the last defender.

“I want there to be no offside as long as the part of your body that can be used to score is on the same line as the defender,” Wenger said when presenting the proposal.

Wenger believes the old offside rule will restore the attacker's advantage, which was largely eroded by the introduction of the video assistant referee (VAR). Changes to the offside rule were introduced after the 1990 World Cup. Before and throughout that tournament, a player was considered offside if he was level with the last defender before the goalkeeper, just as it is today.

As a result, goal scoring at the 1990 World Cup was sluggish. The extremely rigid offside rule hampered the strikers' sharpness. In 1990, the average number of goals scored was 2.21 per match, the lowest in World Cup history.

The proposal put forward by Wenger aims to make football more attacking, thereby creating more goals. From there, football will become more entertaining in terms of gameplay.

"In situations of doubt, that uncertainty benefits the striker. This means that when there is a slight opportunity, the striker indeed gains an advantage (to score a goal). With the presence of VAR, this advantage disappears, and for many people, this is frustrating," said Wenger.

Sources close to the discussions on Wenger's "version of the offside rule," including a report from Spanish publication Diario AS, indicate that approval is highly likely if the draft proposal passes the IFAB's annual meeting. Implementation of the rule would likely be as early as the 2026-2027 season.

FIFA stated that any potential rule changes will undergo extensive testing before being officially adopted, with the primary aim of assisting referees in making more accurate decisions.

Previously, Wenger's offside rule was tested in youth competitions in Italy and Sweden. The results were positive. This demonstrated the effectiveness of Wenger's offside rule in increasing goal production and halting matches due to disallowed goals, which often spark controversy. (BBC)