FIFA have announced they will use goal line technology at the 2014 World Cup and the 2013 Confederations Cup. Both tournaments are to be held in Brazil and will be the first major international competitions to use the technology.
“After a successful implementation of Goal-Line Technology (GLT) at the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan in December 2012, FIFA has decided to use GLT at the FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013 and 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil,” FIFA said in a statement.
“The aim is to use GLT in order to support the match officials and to install a system in all stadia, pending the successful installation, and pre-match referee tests.”
The technology was used at the Club World Cup at the end of last year. Both the Hawkeye and GoalRef systems were trialled during the tournament. GoalRef utilises a chip, located inside the ball, to detect when the ball has crossed the goal line, whereas Hawkeye relies on various cameras around the stadium to monitor the position of the ball. Hawkeye is the system used by umpires in tennis.
FIFA will now be inviting goal line technology producers to submit tenders for the rights to provide the GLT for the World Cup and Confederations Cup.
“With different technologies on the market, FIFA has launched a tender today, setting out the technical requirements for the two forthcoming competitions in Brazil.
The two GLT providers already licensed under FIFA’s Quality Programme for GLT, and other GLT providers currently in the licensing process (that must have passed all relevant tests as of today) are invited to submit tenders.
Interested GLT companies will be invited to join an inspection visit to the Confederations Cup venues, currently scheduled for mid-March, with a final decision due to be confirmed in early April,” FIFA said.
Following the trial at the World Club Championship it had been widely expected that FIFA would move ahead with using the technology at the Confederations Cup and World Cup and goal line technology may also be used in the Bundesliga by the start of next season.
For several years there have been calls for world football's governing body to introduce the technology to the sport's highest level. Football fans and competitiors have questioned why the sport took so long to adapt when other sports have long utilised technology in the interest of removing human error from the judgment of match officials.
