FIFA : Goal-line technology at the disposal of the World Cup 2014

The World football-governing body - the FIFA - has been trying out two technologies and will put both of them to the test at the upcoming Club World Cup as from December 6 in Japan with a view to opt for using the most accurate version at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. A last-16 World Cup match two years ago in South Africa went a long way to convincing FIFA the technology had to come to the rescue after England's Frank Lampard had what appeared to be a perfectly good goal ruled out against Germany. The non-award of his effort ultimately went some way to presaging a 4-1 loss for Lampard's side, prompting the game's authorities to accept they must do more to prevent such miscarriages of sporting justice. Two systems - one German, one English - have been certified by FIFA and are now fighting one another for the right to be used in Brazil in two years' time. First there is GoalRef, which uses magnetic fields and a special ball which will be tested at the stadium at Yokohama during the Club World Cup. The other, Hawk-Eye, is based on deploying cameras in similar fashion to that already prevalent in tennis and cricket. The latter will be used at the Toyota Stadium. GoalRef is the brainchild of researchers Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuit in Germany and the second has been created by Hawk-Eye Innovations in Britain. 'At the end of January we will discuss things with the two providers of their technology, and if there is a third system we will decide in February or March which will be used at the Confederations Cup, starting in June,' said Christoph Schmidt of FIFA, who has just visited the Soccerex exhibition in Rio de Janeiro. FIFA indicates the system which gets used for the Confederations Cup will not necessarily be guaranteed to be retained for the World Cup's 12 venues a year later. FIFA hopes that as time passes, this new hi-tech system although it may be now rather expensive, it will be widely available for use at professional championships. (IY) Source: (BigPond Sport)