Goal-line technology to be tested in Japan

Football governing body FIFA may introduce goal-line technology at the 2010 World Cup if it proves effective at the world club championship in Japan next month, a FIFA executive said Friday.

In the experimental system, a microchip in the ball relays an electronic signal to the referee's watch when it crosses the goal line."FIFA is very much interested in the test results," FIFA executive Viacheslav Koloskov, head of the Club World Cup organising committee, told a news conference here.

"If everything is perceived well enough, this goal-line technology will be widely used in the World Cup in 2010," he said.FIFA has decided to use the high-tech system at the 2007 Club World Cup, to be contested by continental club champions in Japan between December 7 and 16.

Italian Serie-A side AC Milan and Boca Juniors of Argentina are favourites to win it.The world body had dropped plans to use the system at the 2006 World Cup in Germany after trials proved inconclusive."

Players are always concerned about difficult judgements," said Nobuhisa Yamada, captain of the J-League side Urawa Reds, who will represent Asia at the club championship."So if the technology improves the accuracy of goal-line calls, that will be great for players," he said.