Arsène Wenger Keen to Change Offside Rule & Replace (Some) Throw-Ins

Former Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger is eager to make four changes to football's rulebook in his role as FIFA's Chief Head of Global Football Development.

After leaving the Emirates Stadium in 2018, Wenger began working with FIFA in a role which gives him plenty of influence when it comes to the future of football, including potential rule changes.

In an interview with L'Équipe, Wenger was asked to reveal whether he had any ideas for changes to the rules, and the legendary Frenchman quickly jumped on the chance to express his frustration with the offside rule.

"“For the moment, you are offside if a part of your body that you can score with sits ahead of the body of a defender," he began. "I would like it to be that there is no offside so long as a single body part which a player can score with is in line with the defender.

"This could be too much of an advantage for an attacker, because that obliges the defenders to play higher up."

Wenger also revealed that he has some radical new proposals, including doing away with some throw-ins and replacing them with kick-ins to give attacking teams a better chance of scoring from them.

"I would also like to change the throw-in rule," he said. "Five minutes before the end, a throw-in for you should be an advantage, but in these situations you are facing ten outfield players in play, whilst you only have nine.

"Stats show that in eight out of ten of those throw-in situations, you lose the ball. In your half of the pitch, you should have the possibility to take a kick instead.

"We are also considering other things: an in-swinging corner that goes out of play and comes back in could be made valid, this would create new goalscoring opportunities. There is also the option of quickly playing a free-kick to yourself."

It was Wenger's vast experience at various levels of management which helped him land the role, with FIFA keen to get more of an insight from people who have actually been involved in the game.

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