World Soccer: Following Controversy, FIFA Considers Use of Goal Line Technology

In a long overdue and very necessary move to enhance the sport, the governing body of world soccer, FIFA, has announced plans to better test the use of goal line technology in its matches.

The idea of goal line technology is to determine whether the ball completely crosses the goal line, and can eliminate the possibility of human error to decide whether the whole ball actually crossed or not. 

Goal line technology has become a hot topic of debate over the last year as several recent matches  have ended with controversial goals making a difference.

The most recent incident was last weekend during an English Premier League match between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard was awarded a controversial goal that appeared on replay to not have fully crossed the line after Tottenham goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes fumbled the save.

On other occasions, goals have been disallowed with replay showing that they had in fact not crossed the line.

With the ever growing importance of league and world matches, and the growing amounts of money generated by this sport, the hope with goal line technology is to eliminate the error and get the call correct.

In the coming months, FIFA plans to test several systems to ensure the accuracy of this technology and is looking for at least 90 percent accuracy before making a change.

Results of these tests will not be revealed for at least another year.

FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter announced today that the companies previously working on this technology were not successful in meeting the FIFA criteria, and asked for at least another year.

He said, “We must first have the answer to our basic principles—accuracy, speed—which means the immediate delivery of the result—and a system that is not too complicated to implement. And we haven’t achieved these three things so far with our independent laboratory."

The hope for soccer fans worldwide is that in the coming year a plan will be in place and that the results of goals will be more accurate.