THE rules of football’s offside law have been placed under review after a clever club from Sweden unearthed a stunning loophole.
Torns IF, who play in the Swedish third tier, could send shockwaves through the beautiful game after revealing the hole in the rules.
The current rules set by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) outline offside as being judged from the “first point of contact of the ‘play’ or ‘touch’ of the ball”.
However, IFAB have now been forced to reconsider their definition after Torns managed to find a creative way around the rule.
In a brilliant video shared to their Twitter page, Torns thought up a way to bypass the law and create one-on-ones with the opposition goalkeeper.
The clip sees Adam Olafsson – the club’s “most technically gifted player” – asked to balance the ball on his boot at the start of an offside drill.
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Team-mate Ludde Bergman is then asked to run beyond the defensive block, before Olafsson launches the ball to him despite Bergman supposedly being offside when the ball is played.
The coach explains that because the ball remained stuck to the passer’s foot the entire time, the runner was in fact NOT offside – thus making blowing a hole in the wording of the offside law.
Torns revelation eventually caught the eye of football’s lawmakers.
IFAB initially dismissed the pass as not being in the “spirit” of the offside law.
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However, after a back-and-forth between the two parties, IFAB eventually conceded.
They said: “Your conclusions are fine. We will review if the wording of Law 11 needs changing in light of this ‘theoretical’ situation.”
A radical new approach – coined by Arsene Wenger – to the offside law is being trialled this season in Holland, Sweden and Italy.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
