Manuel Pellegrini wants a basketball-inspired rule for football

Europe 11 November 2025 at 13:30

Aliou Toundé

News Editor

After the Europa League match against Lyon, Betis manager Manuel Pellegrini put forward a bold idea to change football's rules.

Unlike Arsène Wenger, who is championing a revision of the offside law, Pellegrini doesn't support such a change. In his view, VAR is already effective at minimizing errors, and altering the offside rule would only complicate matters. Instead, he suggests introducing a rule borrowed from basketball: once a team crosses the halfway line, they would no longer be allowed to bring the ball back into their own half.

This restriction would force teams to keep pushing forward, which, according to Pellegrini, would make matches more spectacular, more attacking, and much more dynamic. At 72, Pellegrini continues to make history with Betis, having already lifted the Copa del Rey and reached a Conference League final.