FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has announced that goal-line technology has been given approval by the International Football Association Board (IFAB), football’s law-making body.
Following nine months of testing in England, Germany, Hungary and Italy, IFAB decided to introduce the controversial measures at a special meeting in Zurich yesterday.
Goal-line technology was approved unanimously by the body, and will be used for the first time at the 2012 Club World Cup in Japan in December.
Of the eight companies that took part in the first round of tests, only two systems – Hawk-Eye and GoalRef – successfully completed the process and can now apply to become official FIFA goal-line technology licensees.
Once the system has been installed in a stadium, which will cost between €120,000 and €200,000, it will undergo a final inspection to check its functionality. The results of the final installation test must be accepted by the competition organiser, club or stadium operator, before the system can be put into operation.
IFAB has stated that goal-line technology can only be used to determine whether a goal has been scored; no other information may be provided to aid any other refereeing decision.?
If the ball has fully crossed the line, the goal-line technology automatically sends that information to the match officials within a second. This message is displayed on the watches of the referee and his team.