For the first time ever at a World Cup, goal-line technology will be used to help referees make the calls cheered and challenged around the globe: goal or no goal.
The small German start-up company GoalControl has created the technology used to support the referees, something which has been used for years already in sports such as cricket, rugby and tennis.
They presented the system on Monday at Brazil's famous Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro -- just three days ahead of the competition kick off.
"The system works 100 percent accurately and we have the possibility that the signals will be sent out after the cams have seen whether the ball crosses the line or not to send out to referees watch and the referee then decides at his sole discretion is it a goal or not," said CEO of GoalControl, Dirk Broichhausen.
The system makes use of 14 cameras. They send digitalized pictures to a data room, sitting in the top of the soccer stadium.
After analyzing the data, the message will be sent to a special watch, worn by the referee with the word "Goal" if the ball is over the line. The process takes less than a second.
FIFA was persuaded to move to technology after an incident in the 2010 World Cup when England's Frank Lampard was denied a goal against Germany when his shot hit the bar and officials failed to spot it had bounced down just behind the line. That would have tied the match at 2-2 but Germany went on to win 4-1.
"If I think about the Lampard goal when the whole of Germany was at first angry, we were then a bit relieved when the goal was not allowed. Now we have clear conditions at least for the goals. We still have all the emotions. We are very proud that we are the first chosen official goal-line technology providers for FIFA," Broichhausen said, adding that he is convinced the world's most popular game is on the verge of big changes.
"It is a positive moment, a historic moment and we all are football fans in this fine, wonderful country here, Brazil, and this is what we find here," he said.
And representatives from FIFA say the system is 100 percent reliable and that referees have been trained to use it.
Referees will also carry out a number of tests on the equipment ahead of the games to make sure it is working properly.
"In the preparation of this World Cup the independent test institute, Labosport UK, they have tested over 2,400 goal-line incidents in the several stadiums here in Brazil. All of these 2,400 goal-line incidents were correctly recognized by the system so yes we can trust the system. We are sure that it works 100 percent," said Johannes Holzmueller, the group leader of the FIFA Quality Programme.
The English Premier League adopted goal-line technology this past season when it started using a system supplied by Hawk-Eye, a British-based company owned by Sony.
But the 36 clubs from Germany's first and second soccer division rejected the introduction of the technology in March because of the technology's cost.
Brazil will take on Croatia in Sao Paolo in the World Cup opening match on Thursday.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
