FIFA may not have gone as far as moving the goalposts just yet, but a meeting in Belfast today is likely to agree that goalkeepers can shift position before the ball is kicked on penalties.

The International Football Association Board will decide on this and several other major rule changes in what could prove the most radical overhaul of the textbooks for more than half a century.

"It's not a case of rewriting the rules," said FIFA spokesman Keith Cooper, "we just want to make some of the laws more understandable and less open to interpretation."

The main changes proposed include an extension of the backpass rule to include throw-ins in a further bid to reduce negative thinking.

And to virtually eliminate time-wasting a five-second rule limiting the time a keeper can be in controlled possession of the ball is also under consideration.

The main bonus for keepers is the probable change which will allow them to move laterally on the goal line as a penalty is being taken.

Manchester United's David Beckham may take a shooting interest in the proposal to enable a goal, to be scored directly from the kick-off.