By Andrew Warshaw
July 3 – Despite not being needed for any contentious decisions during the Confederations Cup, GoalControl, the German goal-line technology system, looks like being employed at next year’s World Cup as planned.
The camera-based system was the last to throw its name into the hat for both tournaments after the International Football Association Board finally approved GLT last year. It was surprisingly selected ahead of Hawk-Eye and GoalRef, the systems used for the first time in official competition by FIFA at the Club World Cup in Japan last December.
No instances of the ball crossing the line – or otherwise – took place in either Japan or Brazil but FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke has hinted GoalControl will be installed for the real thing next year.
“The agreement with GoalControl was to see how it worked at the Confederations Cup. The feedback was that it worked well so why change?” he said.
The cost of the installing the system at the 12 World Cup venues is likely to be around $3m. England’s Howard Webb, one of the Confederation Cup referees who took charge of one of the semifinals, was very much on favour of goalline technology being retained. “Of course we had nothing to compare it with …but the reassurance the system gives us is a big benefit,” he said.
Meanwhile, the English FA has yet to finalise arrangements for goal-line technology to be installed at Wembley Stadium. The FA want something in place before the Community Shield, England’s annual season curtain-raiser, on August 11, but are still in negotiations.
The FA ideally would like Hawk-Eye, which won a five-year deal in April to supply all 20 Premier League clubs. A spokesman said: “The current position remains that the FA are completing negotiations in relation to installing and using goal-line technology in the stadium.”
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