No 'smartball' at World Cup
Goal-line technology will not be used in next summer’s World Cup after plans to experiment with system next week were dropped.
Adidas and the two other companies who had developed the ’smartball’ system had hoped to impress FIFA at next week’s World Club Championships – the tournament involving Liverpool – in Japan but have pulled the plug on the tests.
They have accepted that the system, which works with a microchip in the ball sending a signal to the referee when it goes over the line, needs further development and will not be ready for the World Cup next summer.
The technology was first trialled at the FIFA Under-17 World Championships in Peru in September and adidas confirmed today it would not be tested in Japan.
A statement said: “Adidas have confirmed that the so-called smartball technology that uses the ball as an information carrier will not debut at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
“It will also not be tested at the FIFA Club World Championship in Tokyo this December.
“In consultation with the international football federation FIFA, and in close cooperation with development partner Cairos Technologies AG in Karlsbad, Germany, it has been decided to focus on the further development and testing of the system before using it at tournaments on the highest professional level.”
The FA have been following goal-line technology closely as part of the their position on the game’s rule-making body the International FA Board.
