Germany’s Bundesliga has ruled out goal-line technology as a potential solution in the wake of the “ghost goal” controversy that arose last Friday after Bayer Leverkusen’sStefan Kiessling headed the ball into Hoffenheim’s goal through the side netting and the referee deemed it to be a goal. Bayer went on to win the game, 2-1.
WhileHoffenheim called for the game to be replayed, the German soccer association (DFB) has said it will abide by FIFA’s rules, which state that a referee’s decision is final once play has beenrestarted. FIFA, meanwhile, stressed that while the referee’s decision is final, the situation presents the perfect opportunity for the German Bundesliga to introduce goal-line technology, whichis now used in England’s Premier League and will also be deployed at next summer’s World Cup in Brazil.
However, league general manager Andreas Rettig recentlytold Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that as things stand, the options remain inadequate. “We are not against technological progress, but we are talking about a highly complex system here,which might still be failure-prone,” he said. “The 3 centimeter margin of error allowed by FIFA is not acceptable for us.”