Goal Line Technology endorsed by FIFA

It’s not the first international match where a goal was denied, but when Ukranian forward Marco Devic had his ball cleared by England’s John Terry without being counted as a goal, it was a reminder of how much soccer relies on referees who can’t always be in the right place. Television replays showed the ball crossing the line — as happened again in other EURO 2012 matches — but replays don’t matter: if the ref doesn’t call it during play, it’s not a goal.

Did Devic score a goal before Terry cleared it, or not?

Fans were outraged and rightfully so: if the rule is that the ball has to be completely behind the goal line, once a ball crosses that line, the goal should count.

In response to this ongoing challenge, international soccer continues to explore Goal Line Technology, and it’s expected to be endorsed by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in just a few days. And FIFA president Sepp Blatter wrote on Twitter that GLT is “a necessity” after the Ukraine:England match. He followed that with another Tweet: “The IFAB will decide on #GLT on 5 July – I am confident they will realise that the time has come.”

So how does GLT work? There are two major systems being tested, Hawk-Eye and GoalRef, the former already having been tested in England’s friendly match against Belgium last month, and it turns out that assessing goals is complicated.

GoalRef, for example, is described by the company as working thusly:

Our system works with ten antennas mounted on the goalposts and crossbar — encased in plastic. An antenna ‘exciter’ partially below the ground is connected to a processor. Inside the ball, three electronic coils sit between the bladder of the ball and the ball panels. When the ball enters the goal, the antenna system is activated and ‘excites’ the processor. Once the magnetic field has been crossed, signaling a goal, the wireless radio frequency signal is transmitted to the referee’s watch. We believe we can achieve all this in less than 0.5 seconds.

By comparison, the Hawk-Eye system, which is already used in tennis and cricket matches internationally, works using six cameras:

Utilizing six cameras per goal to track the ball on the pitch, the system’s software uses “triangulation” to pinpoint the exact location of the ball. If the ball crosses the goal line, an encrypted radio signal is sent to the referee’s wristwatch to indicate a goal has been scored. This process takes place in less than one second.

Whatever solution is picked after exhaustive testing, we’re looking forward to goal-line technology helping solve one frustrating aspect of the beautiful game, whether that goal was really a goal or not, and we’re glad Blatter, FIFA and IFAB are also on board.