World football governing body FIFA yesterday announced it has approved use of goal-line technology (GLT) for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
FIFA said that after a successful implementation of the GLT at the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan in December 2012 it has decided to use the technology at the FIFA Confederations Cup 2013 and 2014 FIFA World Cup, both in Brazil.
FIFA hopes the technology will support match officials and promises to “install a system in all stadia, pending the successful installation, and pre-match referee tests”.
The governing body invited tenders from interested suppliers, with the Premier League later announcing it was “close to entering a formal tendering process” as well.
FIFA hopes to confirm which of four systems it has chosen by early April so the GLT could be used at this year’s Confederations Cup in Brazil, where Nigeria, as the winner of African Cup of Nations tournament, will be representing Africa.
According to FIFA, the objective of the technology is not to replace referees but to support them in their decision-making.
“The technology must provide a clear indication as to whether the ball has fully crossed the line, and this information serves the referee in taking his final decision,” FIFA said.
The decision to approve GLT comes after FIFA tested the camera-dependent ‘Hawk-Eye’ and magnetic field-based ‘GoalRef’ at December’s Club World Cup after granting both licenses for global use.
It is reported that ‘Cairos’, which is similar to GoalRef, has passed the tests and a licensing agreement could be signed by next week.
Absence of GLT has been blamed for a number of high-profile incidents, such as the failure to award a goal after Frank Lampard’s shot crossed the line in the match between England and Germany at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
The incident is said to have prompted the International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body that determines the laws of the game of association football, to reconsider the introduction of GLT, a decision that was honoured at the association’s Annual Business Meeting in October 2010.
