Why Are Offside Calls So Controversial at the World Cup?

Offside is one of soccer's oldest rules. It was first written into the laws of the game by the English Football Association back in 1863. The rule exists to stop attacking players from standing near the goal and getting an unfair advantage. An attacking player is offside if any part of their body — not hands or arms — is closer to the opponent's goal than both the ball and at least two defenders.

For a long time, a referee's assistant had to judge these calls with their own eyes. That was difficult to get right every time. Then came Video Assistant Referee technology, or VAR, which allowed officials to review plays on a monitor. VAR drew lines across the screen to show where players were, but it could take several minutes to make a call.

To speed things up, Semi-Automated Offside Technology — or SAOT — was introduced at the 2022 World Cup. SAOT captures 100 frames of video every second and tracks 10,000 data points across all 22 players. It then creates a 3D animation to show exactly where each player's body was when the ball was kicked. The results are incredibly precise — sometimes too precise, many people argue.

Several decisions at this World Cup have caused big controversy. Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo thought he scored a great goal against Croatia, but VAR showed his shoulder was just barely past the last defender. Colombia's Davinson Sanchez had a goal ruled out because his toe was offside. Iran's Shoja Khalilzadeh had a goal canceled by an equally tiny margin, one that would have sent his team to the next round.

Another key piece of technology is the Connected Ball Technology inside the official World Cup ball. The ball contains a tiny sensor that sends data 500 times per second. This helps officials figure out exactly when and where the ball was touched. If the ball grazes a player on its way to a teammate, it can trigger an offside call, even if the touch was barely noticeable.

Croatia's head coach Zlatko Dalic was very upset after one such decision. He said the technology "kills the emotions" and "takes the joy out of football." Many coaches and players across the tournament agreed with his frustration. The debate quickly spread from the stadium to living rooms and social media around the world.

One powerful voice is pushing for change. Arsene Wenger, the former Arsenal manager who now works for FIFA, wants to update the offside rule. He wants a player to be onside as long as any part of their body is level with the last defender — not strictly behind them. Right now, even a toenail ahead of the defender counts as offside.

This idea is often called Wenger's law, and it has already been tested in real games. FIFA allowed the Canadian Premier League to try it in their 2024 season, and the first goal under the new rule was scored in April. The Canadian league even reviewed all World Cup matches and estimated that 17 more goals would have been scored if Wenger's law had been used.

Changing the rule is not easy, though. The group that controls soccer's laws is called the International Football Association Board, or IFAB. It includes FIFA and the football associations of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Any change needs a three-quarter majority vote, meaning at least two British associations must agree with FIFA's plan — and so far, IFAB has not been convinced.