Soccer Goal Line Technology

Goal line technology continues to be a contentious issue in soccer. While other sports have embraced technological innovations to aid officials in determining if a goal was scored, no such gadgets have yet been offered to soccer referees. Some argue that goal line technology would prevent would-be goals being wrongly disallowed. Others claim it would impinge on the pace and drama of the world's most widely played sport.

  1. History

    • After pressure from domestic leagues, FIFA, world soccer's governing body, first used goal line technology on a trial basis at the 2005 Under-17 World Championships in Peru. Each match ball was fitted with a microchip that alerted the referee when it crossed the goal line. This system was further tested at the World Club Championships in December 2007. However, in March 2008, FIFA's International Football Association Board (IFAB) announced that future tests would be scrapped. The IFAB instead decided to experiment with two additional assistant referees, one behind each goal. This approach was reiterated in March 2010 when the IFAB again rejected calls for goal line technology.

    Significance

    • The calls for a solution to the problem of incorrectly disallowed goals has been growing as other sports have successfully implemeted technology for reviewing scoring. Football, basketball, tennis and rugby are among the professional sports that use television replays and hawkeye technology. Pedro Mendes' incorrectly disallowed long-range effort for Tottenham Hotspur against Manchester United in a January 2005 English Premier League game prompted the English FA to support goal line technology trials. TV replays showed that Mendes' strike crossed the goal line before the retreating goalkeeper, Roy Carroll, clawed it back into play. Nonetheless, the goal was not awarded. Since then there have been numerous examples of goals incorrectly disallowed, including during the 2009 Confederations Cup Final, when Brazil star Kaka was denied a score.

    Types

    • Two separate systems have been proposed to clarify whether a goal has been scored. Balls equipped with microchips were tested at the 2007 World Club Championships. They was developed by German companies Adidas and Cairos Technologies as part of their intelligent ball system. Sensors and cables are positioned around the pitch and inside the goal, thereby creating a magnetic field. When the chip in the ball breaks this magnetic field, a message is sent to a central computer, which is then relayed to a watch around the referee's wrist.

      Hawkeye technology has been proposed as a means of determining whether a goal has been scored. The hawkeye system is now used in tennis and in cricket. Using carefully positioned cameras, hawkeye technology creates a 3D image of the path and position of the ball, thereby illustrating whether it crossed the goal line.

    Proponents

    • A number of high profile managers have spoken out in favor of the implementation of goal line technology. English Premier League managers, Arsene Wenger, Steve Bruce and Rafael Benitez support goal line technology. Former England manager Kevin Keegan, and Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni, also believe that soccer must integrate technological innovation to aid referees. Brian Barwick, former chief executive of the FA, publicly expressed his disappointment at FIFA abandoning goal line technology trials. Top officials at the English Premier League are also long-term supporters of goal line technology, in particular, use of the hawkeye system.

    Opponents

    • Goal line technology has encountered its sternest opposition from the leaders of soccer's world governing bodies. FIFA president Sepp Blatter revealed that the trials of balls equipped with microchips were stopped because of concerns over the system's reliability. FIFA also considered hawkeye technology to be inappropriate for soccer, as it would unncessarily slow the game. Blatter has expressed concerns that goal line technology would prove expensive, would undermine the universality of soccer and would set a precedent whereby every refereeing decision would eventually be questioned and reviewed Michel Platini, president of UEFA, European soccer's governing body, has also been skeptical of goal line technology. It was Platini who suggested the experiment with two additional assistant referees that was approved by the IFAB in March 2008 and rolled out to a lukewarm reception during the 2009-2010 Europa League.