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FIFA envisions a future where players wear in-game fitness trackers
Like it or not, soccer is moving into the modern era. For the past few years FIFA, the sport's governing body, has been working with the International Football Association Board (IFAB) to bring experiments like goal line technology and Video Assistant Referee to the game. But IFAB, which is responsible for creating and approving the rules of soccer, doesn't intend to stop there. In 2015, the organization announced plans to develop a global standard for Electronic Performance Tracking Systems (EPTS), with the goal being to let players use wearable tech in official matches. A decision on when and how EPTS will be implemented is set to happen next March, IFAB Secretary Lukas Brud confirmed to Engadget in an interview.
FIFA’s tech ‘experiments’ drag soccer into the modern age
Soccer is the most popular sport in the world. It may not be as big as American football, baseball or basketball in the US -- at least not yet-- but there's a much larger interest in it here now than five or 10 years ago. One of the problems with soccer is that, unlike pro sports organizations such as the NFL, NBA or MLB, it has never been quick to adopt new technology. For decades FIFA, the sport's governing body, opposed cutting-edge ideas that could keep referees from making the wrong calls. "We shall rely on human beings," former FIFA President Sepp Blatter said in 2002. "Players make mistakes, coaches make mistakes and yes, sometimes referees make mistakes. But football is passion, football is emotion. Football has a human touch."
UEFA Champions League final will use goal-line technology
Goal-line technology is already being used in the Premier League to verify scoring, and it's headed to two UEFA league finals, too. The upcoming Champions League and Europa League finals will both make use of the system to keep tabs on scoring. If you'll recall, the tech was also used during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Back in January, UEFA announced that next year's Champions League season and the 2016 Euro Cup would employ the goal-line technology. However, it looks like the European football association is looking to get a jump start on things with the two league finals in May.
ESPN lets you get closer to the action during MLS All-Star Game (update)
Goal-line technology is still a relatively new thing in football, having faced its first real test only about a month ago at the World Cup in Brazil. Here in the US, ESPN is doing something along those lines, mostly for entertainment purposes, during the 2014 MLS All-Star Game -- a match between a collection of Major League Soccer's best players and German club Bayern Munich. As Sports Video Group reports, ESPN has installed a set of cameras inside the goalposts of the Timbers' Providence Park, located in Portland, Oregon, to give viewers at home a better (and much closer) look at what happens in such a critical zone of the field. Bob Frattaroli, the man in charge of directing ESPN's game broadcast, told SVG that having this system in place is perfect for fans to experience "what's going on in the 6-yard box" and to see what movements players are making around it. "First of all, it's a really unique angle, but there's also an intimacy to it that you're not expecting," he said. Update: ESPN has posted a video clip of the cameras in place plus a highlight from their unique perspective, check it out after the break.
France is the first team to benefit from goal-line tech at the World Cup
Well, the above image might look pretty straightforward, but when the shot from France's Karim Benzema bounced off the far post and deflected off the keeper into goal, in the midst of a World Cup match, there was more than a little confusion. The referee asked for clarification through the newly instituted goal-line technology, which initially (and confusingly) ruled 'No goal'. However, that was for the initial rebound, not when it bounced off the Honduras keeper and apparently crossed the line. For anyone that considers themselves a soccer fan, see if you would've called the goal yourself in the Vine clip after the break -- for as long as it remains up. (Even if FIFA isn't particularly technology friendly when it comes to the beautiful game itself, the association is surprisingly fast to act on copyrighted video uploads. Funny huh?)
Premier League adopts goal-line tech, puts armchair pundits in tailspin
We all have that one ghost goal that stays buried in our subconscious, be it Frank Lampard in 2011, Luis Garcia in 2005 or, erm, Frank Lampard in 2010. But perhaps such tribulations will end with the news that the Premier League is following in the footsteps of FIFA to institute goal-line technology from the 2013-2014 season. A Prem spokesperson told BBC and Sky News that all 20 clubs have to have the hardware in place for the start of the season. While the governing body hasn't revealed which two providers are bidding for the job, as it's always either GoalRef or Hawkeye, we're likely to see one of them announcing their success at some point during the summer.
IFAB gives goal-line technology the nod, first official run will be at this year's FIFA Club World Cup
For years and years now, football (soccer) fans have been asking themselves when FIFA would finally realize the "beautiful game" needed to start implementing some sort of tech to help referees with decision-making during major tournaments and in every-day matches. Well, that time is now. After a few months of putting the so-called goal-line technology through intensive and rigorous testing, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) has once and for all approved the use of such tech in official footie games. What this means is FIFA will utilize a couple of methods, one dubbed "GoalRef" and the other "Hawk-Eye," to assist refs in any controversial calls that may take place throughout the 90 minutes (or more if there's extra-time) on either goal. The first of these uses electromagnetic antennas around the goal posts and crossbar to transmit a signal to a referee's watch as soon as the entire ball crosses the line; meanwhile, the latter requires six to eight high-speed cameras -- that shoot at 500 fps -- to grab multiple images of the match ball and quickly process them to identify if it indeed crossed the line completely -- this is also helped by black-colored dots on each goal post which aid the cameras gain a better overall precision. What's best, though, these new systems are set to take their first legitimate runs as soon as the FIFA Club World Cup takes place in December, with the upcoming 2014 World Cup in Brazil also said to have the goal-line technology ready to be used in all of its 64 global glory-seeking matches.
NFL mulling microchips in footballs for those life-or-death goal line rulings
The NFL is serious business. So serious, in fact, that the idea of refs getting decisions wrong sends chills up and down Roger Goodell's spine. Yeah, we all know they do it habitually, but the League seems to be considering improving accuracy just a little bit with the help of some tech. Cairos Technologies, a German outfit that's been trying to sell its goal line technology to football (as in soccer) bigwigs for a while, has told Reuters that it's in discussions with the NFL about bringing its magnetic field hocus pocus to the gridiron. The idea would be for the ref to be alerted, via a message to his watch, any time the ball does something notable like crossing the goal line or first down marker. It should be a great aid for making difficult calls like whether a touchdown has happened at the bottom of a scrum, and might even help cut down on the number of frightfully dull replay challenges. Win-win, no? [Original image courtesy of NFL.com]
