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Football

07th Oct 2020

Arsene Wenger wants to replace throw-ins as part of his new Fifa role

Simon Lloyd

Wenger wants to make significant changes

Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is calling for radical changes to be made to the laws of football.

Wenger, now Fifa’s Head of Global Development, has spoken of his desire to make significant tweaks to the offside law, as well as a rule which would see some throw-ins replaced with kick-ins.

“I would like it to be that there is no offside so long as a (single) body part which a player can score with is in line with the defender,” he told L’Equipe [via GFFN].

“This could be too much of an advantage for an attacker, because that obliges the defenders to play higher up.”

He also outlined how he believed a throw-in could, at times, be a disadvantage for a team, prompting him to suggest an alternative.

“I would also like to change the throw-in rule: five minutes before the end, a throw-in for you should be an advantage, but in these situations you are facing 10 outfield players in play, whilst you only have 9,” he explained.

“Stats show that in 8 out of 10 of those throw-in situations, you lose the ball. In your half of the pitch, you should have the possibility to take a kick instead.”

Wenger is widely credited with revolutionising English football with the introduction of his innovative approaches to coaching following his arrival at Arsenal in the 1990s.

If he gets his way at Fifa, he will be changing the way the game is played in every corner of the globe.