Marco van Basten's plan for football to be discussed by International Football Association Board

Marco van Basten wants to scrap the offside rule and introduce orange cards and sin-bins to football

Football lawmakers are finalising plans to discuss whether to introduce experiments to scrap some of the game's most established rules.

Marco van Basten, FIFA's new technical director, has proposed a series of changes to prompt further discussion, which includes scrapping offside and introducing sin-bins in place of yellow cards.

The International Football Association Board (IFAB) will hold its annual general meeting in London on March 3 and 4, and an agenda is expected to be rubber-stamped by the end of this month.

An IFAB spokesperson confirmed to Sky Sports News HQ that lawmakers will not be asked to approve any changes at this meeting.

But officials are expected to authorise a structure where ideas, such as changing penalty shootouts, will be evaluated to determine whether they should be tested.

IFAB technical director David Elleray, a former Premier League referee, will play a key role in discussions.

Van Basten, the former World Player of the Year, was employed by FIFA in September to oversee all areas ranging from innovations in technology to refereeing.

Van Basten feels abolishing the offside rule would make football more exciting

"We must keep looking for ways to improve the game," he said in an interview with Sport Bild. "To make it more honest, more dynamic, more interesting, so that what we offer is attractive enough. There are lots of variations which need to be tested in the coming years."

Van Basten says abolishing the offside rule would mean an end to games which "resemble handball where nine players, plus the goalkeeper, pack the penalty area and [the defence] is like a wall".

Marco van Basten was appointed FIFA technical director in September

He argues sin-binning players would prove a greater deterrent than the yellow card system.

"That would frighten teams," he said. "It is hard to play 10 against 11, let alone with eight or nine."

Among Van Basten's other ideas is one to replace extra-time and penalties with ice hockey-style shootouts involving players dribbling towards the goalkeeper from "25 metres out".

Watching penalty shootouts could become more exciting if players have to dribble the ball from 25 metres out and try to score

The 52-year-old also suggested clamping down on time-wasting, stopping any player but the captain from speaking to officials and cutting the number of games in a year.

IFAB consists of the UK's British associations, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and four representatives from FIFA.