FIFA technical director Marco van Basten wants the offside rue abolished, and sin-bins introduced to the game.
The former World Player of the Year became FIFA technical director in September and the Dutchman’s long-term vision for the game includes the scrapping of some very established rules.
“We must keep looking for ways to improve the game” he said.
“To make it more honest, more dynamic, more interesting, so that hat we offer is attractive enough.
“There are lots of variations which need to be tested in the coming years.”
Van Basten feels that scrapping the offside rule would put an end to games that “resemble handball where nine players, plus the goalkeeper pack the penalty area and the defence is like a wall.”
He also feels that the introduction of sin-bins would be better than the current yellow card system.
“That would frighten teams. It is hard to play 10 against 11, let alone with eight or nine.”
He also believes in clamping down on time-wasting, and stopping any player but the captain from speaking to the officials, and feels the number of games in a year should also be cut down.
On top of this, he wants to replace extra-time and penalties with ice hockey-style “shootouts” involving players dribbling towards the goalkeeper from 25 metres out – a system that was used in the early days of the MLS over in America.
These are all big changes proposed – and some of them will change the game as we know it entirely, meaning that there is no doubt that a lot of fans will not take kindly to these ideas being introduced any time soon.
While some may see the advantages of these changes, many will feel that Van Basted is attempting to fix something that is not broken, and perhaps should be focusing on other areas of the game that need improving – not those that have been a constant for as long as most of us can remember.
