FIFA director Marco van Basten wants offside rule scrapped

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 18 January 2017

FIFA technical director Marco van Basten believes that scrapping the current offside law, among other radical proposals, could be the key to improving the game.

FIFA technical director Marco van Basten has called for the offside rule to be scrapped in order to make football 'more honest, dynamic and interesting'.

The Dutchman, voted the best player on the planet in 1992, was recently brought on board by world football's governing body to help improve technical areas of the game.

Van Basten has now claimed that one way of enhancing the beautiful game is to change one of its longest-standing rules, while also suggesting that a sin-bin could be introduced to help provide an extra deterrent to players.

"We must keep looking for ways to improve the game," he told Sport Bild. "To make it more honest, more dynamic, more interesting, so that what we offer is attractive enough.

"There are lots of variations which need to be tested in the coming years. [Sin-bins] would frighten teams. It is hard to play 10 against 11, let alone with eight or nine."

Van Basten also floated the idea of replacing extra time and penalties with a new ice-hockey style system that sees players dribble from distance towards the keeper.