Canadian clubs and officials get ready for FIFA offside experiment

Workers assemble temporary seating high in the air for the FIFA World Cup at BMO field in Toronto on Thursday March 12, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

WINNIPEG -- Players and match officials in Canada’s national soccer league are rewiring their brains and bodies as a critical test of provisional FIFA offside rules takes place on Saturday.

The provisional rule, known as an “alternative offside law” by world football authorities, will be tested in the Canadian Premier League’s season opener on Saturday in Hamilton, Ontario between hosts Forge FC and reigning champions Atletico Ottawa.

“Just having that idea that most of those times you’re not going to be offside now, I think it just adds a bit more confidence in players making the runs, whether it’s wingers, strikers or attacking midfielders,” Forge FC forward Tristan Borges told reporters on Friday.

“Defenders are going to be a little bit more wary of it and watching it a little bit more, which ultimately will add more excitement to the game.”

FIFA says the rule has evolved from ideas designed “to enhance match tempo and reduce time-wasting,” as well as to promote a more attacking style of play.

Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, FIFA’s chief of global football development, called the Canadian test “an important pilot.”

“By testing this new interpretation in a professional competition, we can better understand its impact,” he added.

Few developments in world soccer have provoked more controversy in recent years than protracted video‑assisted offside decisions that disallow goals and interrupt play over marginal infringements.

Matches were often halted for several minutes as VAR reviewed offside decisions, dulling goal celebrations for players and fans and disrupting the game’s flow.

The proposed FIFA rule is designed to make calls clearer and faster, reducing controversy and delays. Critics in Europe have resisted the rule for a number of reasons, with some believing it will cause defenders to play too defensively and bog down the game.

The trial in Canada is taking place with a young league, launched in 2019 and quickly hit with pandemic shutdowns. It now has eight teams in a country where the popularity of soccer is soaring, but the professional infrastructure remains underdeveloped.

Interest in football has grown in a country traditionally associated with ice hockey, driven by the popularity of the English and Spanish leagues and the prospect of hosting the World Cup alongside the United States and Mexico.

Although small by global standards, the CPL drew worldwide online attention when its 2025 final was played during a blizzard, producing a spectacular bicycle kick that became known as the “icicle kick.”

(Reporting by Ed White; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)