GoalRef is an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

goal-line technology In many outdoor ball sports, a goal line is a line in front of goal post and which a team attempts to advance the ball or puck towards to score a goal or points. In particular, see: * Football pitch for usage of the term in soccer * Goal line (gri ...

system developed by German research institute Fraunhofer in association with

Select Sport Select Sport A.S. is a Danish sports equipment manufacturer based in Glostrup, Denmark. As of 2008, Select Sport provides the Danish Football Association with footballs, and also several clubs in the Danish, Belgian, Portugal and Russian top foo ...

. It works by detecting the passage of the ball using magnetic induction. Along with

Hawk-Eye Hawk-Eye is a computer vision system used in numerous sports such as cricket, tennis, Gaelic football, badminton, hurling, rugby union, association football and volleyball, to visually track the trajectory of the ball and display a profile o ...

GoalControl GoalControl is a German company based in Aachen, which has developed a goal-line technology for Association football.The Goal Control system features 14 high speed cameras which are mounted around the stadium, 7 directed to each of the goals. Thes ...

and Cairos it is one of four systems approved for use in the professional game by the

International Football Association Board The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is the body that determines the Laws of the Game of association football. IFAB was founded in 1886 to agree standardised Laws for international competition, and has since acted as the "guardia ...

(IFAB).

History

GoalRef was originally developed by a Danish organisation commissioned by Select Sport who entered the system for consideration by the

International Handball Federation The International Handball Federation (IHF) is the administrative and controlling body for handball and beach handball. IHF is responsible for the organisation of handball's major international tournaments, notably the IHF World Men's Handball C ...

. In 2011 Fraunhofer became lead partner in GoalRef alongside the original inventor, and entered the system in the first stage testing being conducted for IFAB by

EMPA The Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa, German acronym for ''Eidgenössische Materialprüfungs- und Forschungsanstalt'') is an interdisciplinary Swiss research institute for applied materials sciences and tech ...

(Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology). GoalRef and Hawk-Eye were the only systems that proceeded to EMPA's second stage of testing, involving lab and field tests, plus trials in training and live professional matches. In this phase GoalRef was tested in the

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...

. Following the second phase trials, on 5 July 2012 IFAB approved both GoalRef and Hawk-Eye in principle, making it available for use in professional matches under a set of revised Laws of the Game. Each installation however would also require licensing approval for use in the individual stadium, on a 12-month basis. The

2012 FIFA Club World Cup The 2012 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2012 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was a football tournament that was played from 6 to 16 December 2012. It was the ninth edition of the FIFA Club World ...

was the first tournament where GoalRef and Hawk-Eye were used by a match referee. GoalRef was used for the first time on 6 December 2012 in the first match of the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup.

Technology

The GoalRef system relies on the principle of

electromagnetic induction Electromagnetic or magnetic induction is the production of an electromotive force (emf) across an electrical conductor in a changing magnetic field. Michael Faraday is generally credited with the discovery of induction in 1831, and James Clerk ...

. A low frequency

magnetic field A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...

is generated around the goal, which is monitored by coils installed in the goal posts and crossbar. The ball is fitted with a passive electronic circuit embedded between the leather outer and inflatable inner layers. Software monitors the condition of the magnetic field in the goal and can detect the change that occurs in it due to the passage of the coils in the ball over the line. Once detected, the system sends an encrypted radio signal in real time to a wrist watch worn by the referee, which both vibrates and displays a message that a goal was scored.

References

{{Reflist, 2
Goal-line decision in four weeks
FIFA, 7 June 2012

FIFA, 5 July 2012 * ttp://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/world-of-sport/goal-line-technology-does-164718522.html Goal-line technology: How does it work?Eurosport, 5 July 2012
FIFA approves intelligent goal from Fraunhofer
Fraunhofer, 9 July 2012

External links

Association football equipment Sports officiating technology