“Was it a goal, or wasn’t it?” That crucial question, which has dogged just about every World Cup heretofore, is one that should not be asked in Brazil this year, as goal line technologyfinally makes its World Cup debut. The Associated Press reports that some 14 cameras –seven trained on each goalmouth — have been hung up in all 12 World Cup stadiums. The cameras record 500 imagesper second, which are interpreted by a computer to determine whether or not a goal has been scored within a second of the ball crossing the line. The referees will have a special watch that willvibrate and flash “GOAL.”
According to the designer of the system, called GoalControl, this should be the end of the great goal debate. “This is the future,” says DirkBroichhausen, whose system has undergone 2,400 tests in Brazil without any mistakes so far. “This system is not able to be manipulated because the system is off-line,” he added.“Off-line means no Internet connection. There is no possibility to manipulate or disturb anything.”
Different types of goal-line technology have already been used at the clublevel, including the Hawk-Eye system, which was used in England’s Premier League last season. FIFA declined to discuss how much the GoalControl technology cost to implement.