Daylight offside and challenge system tipped to be key ahead of trial in Canada

Daylight offside plus a challenge system for coaches could be key components in how top-level football is officiated globally in the future, according to a senior executive at a league trialling both this season.

The Canadian Premier League (CPL) is about to become the highest-profile competition so far to trial the ‘daylight’ offside proposal championed by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, with its 2026 season kicking off on Saturday.

The Wenger offside proposal’s chief aim is to make football more entertaining. Under the proposal, an attacker is onside if any part of their body that can score is at least level with the second-last defender.

CPL executive vice-president Costa Smyrniotis believes the ‘daylight’ principle provides greater simplicity and clarity on what constitutes offside. The league is also using the Football Video Support (FVS) system this season, which puts challenges for coaches at its heart. He believes such a system married with the best aspects of VAR technology could be how officiating evolves in the future, saying existing VAR has become “too good” and is slowing the game down.

Under FVS, coaches receive two challenges to refereeing decisions per game which are retained if the challenge is successful, while all goal awards still get checked by the fourth official for any clear and obvious infringements. In the Canadian case, the replay operator will also draw offside lines for the referee to review on the monitor.

The CPL is excited to be at the forefront of what it believes could be the way forward for football globally.

“Eventually I see a marriage of these two technologies – the challenge system part, along with some of the more advanced technological components of VAR coming together to find that middle ground in all this,” he told the Press Association.

“VAR is just too good right now. And the ‘too good’ part of it is actually kind of slowing down the game.

“It has created situations that we don’t want to see in a match, especially when a goal is scored – we’re all happy, and then all of a sudden they take it away from us. The hope is that this is a less intrusive process.”

The game’s lawmakers, the International Football Association Board, announced plans for a review of VAR at its annual general meeting in February. Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham, an IFAB director, said one of the considerations of the review should be what elements of FVS the wider game could consider adopting in the future.

“That changes the dynamic, that reduces the amount of times when there is a VAR intervention and effectively puts the onus on the coach,” he said.

The CPL is working closely with FIFA on the ‘daylight’ trial, and Smyrniotis believes it is a much simpler approach than the current law, which was adopted in 1990 to give extra advantage to forwards but whose intent has arguably been neutered by the effectiveness of VAR.

Smyrniotis added: “I’ve tried to explain offside to non-football friends, and they don’t get it. As soon as you say ‘daylight’, it’s understood in two seconds.”

Asked about the impact of technology, and the very real prospect of there still being marginal calls even with ‘daylight’ offside, he said: “I think it’s pretty clear when you say ‘daylight’. I think that’s the saving grace.

“I think that (daylight) should be the guiding principle, and then the technology has to suit to that. A line is always a line, but it’s how you draw it – how you place it must fit the interpretation of the offside rule.

“The hope here is just trying to create a little bit more clarity and go back to the original intent.”