Goal line technology will be ready for World Cup -Blatter
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-12 19:25

Technology to determine whether the ball has crossed the goal line will be ready for next year's World Cup finals in Germany, says FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

"I am convinced it will be ready for the World Cup," Blatter told the London Evening Standard newspaper in an interview published on Thursday.

FIFA are to experiment with the technology at the world under-17 championship in Peru from September 16 to October 2 after being given the go-ahead by the soccer's law-making body, which is comprised of the four British associations and four members of world soccer's governing body.

A "Smartball" has been developed by Adidas, together with German company Cairos AG and the German Fraunhofer Institute.

Blatter has welcomed the technology, which involves a microchip sensor in a ball sending a signal to the referee when it has crossed the goal line.

Blatter is a staunch opponent of the use of video evidence in matches and cited Liverpool's controversial goal against Chelsea in their Champions League semi-final as a reason why cameras should never be used to help resolve goal line disputes.

"They had 12 cameras there and you could not see (if the ball had crossed the line). We believe the human side of the game should be kept," said Blatter.

"We did do experiments with two referees on the field and it's not a bad idea. But the referees were against it. They want to be the boss alone."

Blatter said the standard of refereeing was appalling at the last World Cup in South Korea and Japan in 2002 and that the system of appointing officials for next year's finals had been altered.

Teams of referees and linesmen who regularly work with each other have been put together for next year and are already attending regular training seminars in Germany, where the finals start on June 9.

"They will only work in trios that have been pre-selected," Blatter told the paper. "We've been tough on them so that there is uniformity of the interpretation of the laws. I take part of the responsibility for last time.

"I hope we will have the best referees on the market and avoid the kind of situations we had in 2002."

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