When the Canadian Premier League announced it would be trialling the daylight offside rule this season, in partnership with FIFA and IFAB, it wasn't hard to imagine the impact that might have on games.
With more leeway for forwards to get ahead of their defenders, it would presumably lead to plenty of breakaways and open play attacking opportunities.
Through three matchweeks in the Canadian Premier League, that hasn't necessarily been the case. Instead, the impact of the rule change has been felt most in an entirely different area of the game: set plays.
On Saturday, the CPL saw the first instance of a goal scored that was a direct result of the new offside rule, as Alejandro Díaz opened the scoring for Pacific FC against the Halifax Wanderers.
Unsurprisingly, the goal came from the second phase of a corner kick, where Díaz cleverly got himself tight to the second-last Halifax Wanderers' defender so that there was no daylight between himself and the player. So when Matthew Baldisimo's initial effort was saved, Díaz was in an onside position under the new rule when he slid to score on the rebound.
The goal wouldn't have counted anywhere else in the footballing world, but stood under daylight offside.
The numbers tell a clear story. Through the first 11 matches of the CPL season, non-penalty set-piece goals are up to 0.73 per game, versus 0.54 in 2025.
Goals are a smaller sample size, but shots from set-pieces are also up 2.27 per game from 1.65, and expected goals from set-pieces are up to 0.92 per match versus 0.62 last season.
"It's a very fine line, and obviously the advantage is to the attacker," said Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis of the daylight offside rule. "I think in a bit more set structure, set-pieces are where we'll continue to see things evolve, and how defensive structures look at things, how you can attack certain things, and how much more aggressive you can be."
Teams have had to put different considerations into where they start their defensive lines in set-piece situations. Knowing that attackers can get behind them more easily now, those lines have tended to either start deeper, or drop quicker. That has ultimately put more players in dangerous positions in and around the six-yard box, and resulted in more chaos in that area.
"It's something that will change in these set-pieces, because it makes it a bit harder [defending] now with the daylight offside," said Pacific FC defender Diego Konincks earlier this season. "I think making sure that you practice this, that you're aware of your options now, because you can stay offside for a little bit longer ... that's something we have to capitalize on and get real tight defensively."
In open play, the rule change has mostly indirectly affected goals, for example, defenders dropping back a little bit deeper to respect runs that they otherwise could have ignored as clearly offside. On set-pieces, the impact has been clear.
It is still early days in the implementation of this new rule, and in the discovery of all of the tactical opportunities it presents. Teams will surely continue to adapt and exploit different areas of daylight offside.
But more moments like Díaz's goal are sure to come in the weeks ahead as teams continue to perfect set-play routines.
