GM football fans. It’s Wednesday, Oct. 22 - Changes to the offside rule have been resubmitted to football’s lawmakers, La Liga has cancelled plans to stage a domestic league game abroad, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.

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UEFA Champions League (Oct 22): Real Madrid vs. Juventus, 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET. Madrid have won 12 of their last 13 home games at the group or league stage, only losing to AC Milan two years ago. Juventus are winless in their last five matches in all competitions, and have only won one of their last 11 away games in the Champions League. Bayern Munich vs. Club Brugge, 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET. Bayern are unbeaten in their last 35 home matches, and Harry Kane has been involved in more goals (29) than any other player in the competition since October 23. Chelsea vs. Ajax, 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET. Ajax do not have a great recent record in England, winless in their last 11 major European matches against Premier League teams. Chelsea are strong at home in this competition, too, having lost just two of their last 12 Champions League matches at Stamford Bridge. See every Champions League fixture here.

Results…

Football’s lawmaker has begun the process of introducing a new offside rule, according to reports in Spain. The rule change, referred to as “Wenger’s Law” based on former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger’s proposal, states that an attacker is onside if any part of their body capable of scoring a goal is in line with the second-last defender.

The proposal has received limited attention from the International Football Association Board (Ifab) over the past two years, but it has now been resubmitted for consideration. While it’s unclear what stage the proposal is at, Wenger, who currently serves as Fifa’s Director of Global Football Development, said in May the law could be rubberstamped in a year. Ifab has been trialling the new offside rule for around three years, and further trials are expected in youth football before a final decision.

Wenger has supported the idea for years as part of his wider drive to make football more fluid and attacking. The last time there was a major alteration to offside was in 1990, until which time an attacker had to be behind the second-last opponent rather than level.

La Liga has cancelled plans to hold the first-ever domestic European league match abroad. The match, Villarreal vs. Barcelona, was scheduled at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on 20 December, with tickets set to go on sale this week. The decision to host the match abroad was met with huge backlash in Spain, with players refusing to move for the first 15 seconds of matches in La Liga at the weekend.

Promoters of the match, Relevent, state the reason for the cancellation is because of "insufficient time" to organise the event, though La Liga also cites the "uncertainty in Spain". La Liga said it “deeply regrets” the news and described it as detrimental to “the international profile of the entire football ecosystem”. The statement went on to suggest La Liga needed novel ways of generating money because of the continued dominance of the Premier League.

Guillem Balague, a long-time Spanish football reporter, believes finances were the main reason behind the cancellation of the match. "Perhaps there wasn't enough money, perhaps the money wasn't clear where it was going, but certainly it's been a lot of confusion," he told the BBC.

The United States plans to co-host the 2031 Women’s World Cup with Mexico, Costa Rica, and Jamaica. The four-nation proposal, submitted by the U.S. Soccer Federation, is currently the only bid under consideration ahead of Fifa’s April 30 vote to select the host of the expanded 48-team tournament. Canada was not included, having hosted the 2015 edition.

U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone said more than 30 cities have expressed interest in hosting matches. Final decisions on venues and infrastructure are not expected until 2027. The 2031 tournament will feature 104 matches, up from 64 in 2023.

The U.S. previously hosted the 1999 Women’s World Cup, which expanded from 12 to 16 teams and drew 1.2 million fans, and the 2003 edition, relocated from China with just four months’ notice due to the SARS outbreak.

Dive deeper into the history of the Women’s World Cup, including hidden unofficial tournaments–read here.

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> Nottingham Forest have appointed Sean Dyche as their new manager on a two-year deal (More); dive deeper into whether he’s the right manager for the job (More/w analysis) | Wayne Rooney says Arne Slot should bench Alexander Isak and start Hugo Ekitike after failing to make an impact in Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Man United (More)

> The UK government has said it’s “deeply saddened” that Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv have declined away tickets for their Europa League match against Aston Villa at Villa Park (More)

> Atletico Madrid players were “angry” that they were unable to shower with hot water following their training at Emirates Stadium (More); Arsenal apologised for the incident (More)

> Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany has signed a two-year contract extension, keeping him at the club until 2029 (More)

> Police in the Netherlands detained 180 Napoli fans, amid fears of unrest ahead of PSV’s Champions League game (More)

> The MLS play-off schedule has been confirmed; see the fixture list (More); see the favourites going into the play-offs (More)

> The USL has awarded Reno Pro Soccer the franchise, with the unveiling of its new $80m stadium that will have a capacity of 6,000 (More)

> Liga MX Apertura fixtures Club America vs. Puebla, Necaxa vs. Cruz Azul, Mazatlan vs. Santos Laguna, and Monterrey vs. Juarez to conclude shortly after publication (Live Results)

> Defending champions Al Ahli moved to the top of the Asian Champions League Elite standings following a 4-0 win over Qatar's Al Gharafa (More)

Yesterday’s Poll: Who do you think is the best striker in the world at the moment? 

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🇳🇴 Erling Haaland (45%)

🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🇫🇷 Kylian Mbappe (12%)

🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Harry Kane (39%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (4%)

Your punditry takes:

Meet the Sunday league team with 1,800 Premier League appearances.

Are Arsenal on track to concede 14 goals all season?

The incredible rise of unlikely Swedish champions Mjallby.

The data behind the rise in set-piece goals.

BBC’s Premier League team of the week.

Did you know Graham Potter was fluent in Swedish?

Question: Name the top five Asian Premier League goal scorers–including Australian players.

Daily Wordle: Guess the football-related word, from player names to classic phrases, in six tries or fewer. Play it here.

Scroll below for the answer.

Answer

Son Heung-min (127). Mark Viduka (92). Harry Kewell (57). Tim Cahill (56). Hwang Hee-Chan (23).