FIFA using Atlético Ottawa, Canadian Premier League to test potential rule change

The Canadian Premier League will be testing a new offside rule ahead of the FIFA World Cup. CTV’s Dylan Dyson has the details.

As the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Canada nears and all eyes are turning to the game of soccer in North America, the sport’s governing body is exploring a major rule change which will impact players, fans, and potentially the way kids learn the game.

FIFA says it will be using the 2026 season of the Canadian Premier League (CPL) to test a change to the current offside law.

Currently, when the ball is played by the attacking team, an attacking player is offside if any part of the body used to score is past the second to last defender.

Under FIFA’s new trial offside rule, an attacking player’s entire body must be past the defender, creating a gap, or “daylight,” to be offside.

FIFA says this change is aimed at creating more exciting matches with more goals being scored.

With the new CPL season kicking off April 4, defending champions Atlético Ottawa say they have been preparing for the change in play.

“It’s cool to see maybe something start here, you know, a new rule potentially starting here in CPL,” said Manu Aparicio, midfielder and club captain for Atlético Ottawa.

“It makes sense in theory,” adds Atlético Ottawa defender Noah Abatneh. “It gives the attacker more chance to get in behind and score more goals.”

Atlético’s assistant coach and head of football development Drew Beckie says the shift will be a difficult adjustment for players and referees.

Beckie says the team was not consulted by the league before being informed of the offside trial, but in a year when so many eyes will be on soccer in Canada, the experiment could prove to be a positive one.

“In seeing the visibility of the league and testing out something like this, it’s very exciting for us. We need more eyes on Canadian sport, Canadian soccer, and this is a way to do it.”

If the trial is successful, FIFA could look to change its rulebook and implement this version of the offside rule broadly across its professional leagues, which could lead to a change in the way the sport is taught at the grassroots level.

“It’s just neat to think that something we all thought was so set in stone can be relooked at and can be changed,” said Pavel Cancura, general manager of Atlético Ottawa Juniors, the club’s youth soccer arm for players aged 5 to 17.

For Canadian soccer fans who have known and watched the game for years, the change may be tough to adapt to.

Cancura says that will be the challenge for youth coaches who have to balance education and development for young players.

“How are you going to have a coach speaking to a ref, who’s teaching a player and getting yelled at by a parent, and everybody’s got a different version of the rules in their head?”

For Aparicio, the potential long-term implications of this season are massive.

“The next generation is going to potentially be learning from the ages of 3, 4, or 5 years old that this is the new way of football. So yeah, it’s exciting.”

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