The International FA Board (IFAB) and FIFA have taken a historic decision on Thursday, when they finally approved the use of goal-line technology in professional football.

The governing and rule-making bodies of football have given the go ahead to two systems. The first one is the well-known “Hawk-Eye”, which has proved to be a worthy addition other sports like tennis. “Hawk-Eye” use various cameras to help the referee to take a proper decision on close decisions. The second system is called “GoalRef” and it measures the position of the ball through magnetic fields.

The FIFA Club World Cup 2012 in December will be the first event where the new technology will be introduced.

THE TWO SYSTEMS

GoalRef system – magnetic field technology
The GoalRef system creates the radio equivalent of a light curtain. Low magnetic fields are produced around the goal, and as soon as the ball, which is fitted with a compact electronic device, fully crosses the line, a minor change in the magnetic field is detected, thus allowing the exact position of the ball to be established. If a goal has been scored, an alert is transmitted to the match officials via a radio signal within one second, with a message displayed on their watches and via vibration.

Hawk-Eye system – goal-line camera technology
The Hawk-Eye system uses six to eight high-speed cameras set up at different angles at each end to calculate the exact position of the ball. The data from the cameras is then transferred to video software. From this data, the system generates a graphic image (3D) of the ball’s trajectory. The match officials are informed of whether or not it was a goal within one second.

(Source: FIFA.com)

Further details to follow shortly as the Press Conference is still underway…