The permanent collection — plus this season's live anomalies at the end.
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On June 13, 1925, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) reduced the offside requirement from three defending players to two. Prior to this reform, defending teams had mastered the 'one-back game' — a highly negative strategy where one fullback stayed deep while the other stepped up to trap attackers, paralyzing match play with constant offside whistles and depressing goal-scoring. The SFA-proposed change immediately opened up attacking play. On the opening Saturday of the 1925/26 English Division One season, average goals per game rose to 3.7 compared to the 3.1 average of the previous season. Across the entire campaign, first-division goals surged by 43 percent, increasing from 1,192 to 1,703. Recognizing that traditional two-back defenses were now exposed, Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman withdrew his central midfielder into a deep central defensive role to create a third fullback, flanked by two half-backs, with two attacking midfielders supporting a five-man forward line. This structural adjustment layered the team into a 3-2-2-3 shape — resembling the letters 'W' and 'M' — which established the primary tactical template of European football for the next three decades.
