IFAB puts offside and GLT on the agenda

The 127th Annual General Meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) will take place on Saturday 2 March under the chairmanship of The Scottish FA in Edinburgh, Scotland.

(c) Der Westen / WAZ

Amongst the items on the agenda, the IFAB will discuss a clarification to the interpretation of Law 11 – Offside, following proposals developed by FIFA’s Refereeing department and the IFAB technical sub-committee. The technical sub-committee is comprised of the respective Heads of Refereeing and/or technical experts of FIFA and the four British Associations.

IFAB has evaluated the current definition of the offside variant "interfering with an opponent" as too unprecise and not allowing a consistent interpretation. 

Concretely, the lawmakers propose the following change:

Current Definition		Proposed Definition
In the context of Law 11 – Offside, the following definitions apply: (…) - “interfering with play” means playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a team-mate - “interfering with an opponent” means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or movements or making a gesture or movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent - “gaining an advantage by being in that position” means playing a ball that rebounds to him off a goalpost or the crossbar having been in an offside position or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position		In the context of Law 11 – Offside, the following definitions apply: (…) - “interfering with play” means playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a team-mate - “interfering with an opponent” means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or challenging an opponent for the ball. - “gaining an advantage by being in that position” means playing a ball (i) that rebounds or is deflected to him off the goalpost, crossbar or an opponent having been in an offside position (ii) that rebounds, deflected or is played to him from a deliberate save by an opponent having been in an offside position. A player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent, who deliberately plays the ball (except from a deliberate save), is not considered to have gained an advantage.

  

Other topics for discussion include the usage of electronic performance monitoring systems; the Dropped Ball (Law 8 – Start and Restart of Play) following a submission by the Danish FA; as well as an update report on Goal-Line Technology following the implementation of two systems at the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan in December 2012. The IFAB will also discuss its future consultation and decision-making processes, as well as its future structure.