FIFA causes great controversy when preparing to apply new offside law

The new offside law about to be applied by the World Football Federation (FIFA) has caused much controversy among fans.

The new offside rule was proposed by legendary Arsenal coach, Professor Arsene Wenger - who is currently the Director of Global Football Development of the World Football Federation (FIFA).

The current offside rule would see a player offside if any part of his body was above the last defender when he received the ball. However, under the new rule, a player would only be offside if his entire body was above the last defender of the opposition.

FIFA will begin testing the new offside rule in a number of matches in the Netherlands, Italy and Sweden.

This is considered a shocking change as the new law helps attacking players benefit greatly thanks to their ability to compete and accelerate earlier than the opponent's defenders.

Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson said: "If the above changes help create attractive matches as FIFA wants, I think it will benefit the attacking players. They all want that to happen. The matches will have more goals, the fans will also enjoy it more."

Football fans have also reacted in a variety of ways, with some supporting the change and others opposing it.

One said: "Thank God, offside is a terrible rule, it ruins so many great plays."

Another claimed: "This will be a great change, more goals and more excitement."

One added: "This has the potential to open up the sport's scoring possibilities, as well as eliminating controversial offside calls."

On the other hand, one person said: "So we're moving from calling offside for a toe or the edge of a shoulder to the entire body? Are we ruining the sport?"

One noted: "Not liking this one bit, attackers can be offside, get a foot in front of a player for a split second and then run free towards goal."

Another added: "FIFA are finding new ways to make offside worse, I admire them so much."

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