Modern Technologies in Football

Mendelova univerzita v Brně Provozně ekonomická fakulta

Modern technologies in football

Martin Horák, Ondřej Charvát

Brno 2015 1 Introduction Football is the most popular sport in the world (Sporteology, 2015) and there are so many people who are interested in it. They might just care about the football so it means just to watch it or to be a fan of it. But they can also be more influenced by football, e.g. players, coaches, managers, sponsors, etc. For both of these groups all of the statistics and facts about matches might be interesting. But one of the most important things is that rules in matches must be followed, because everyone wants the match to be fair. Matches are decided by referees (independent people), but no matter what they somehow influent the match (calling a penalty, sending off the player, allowing a goal,...) and there might be some controversial situations that may arise (Moeslun, 2014, p. 67). Because of both those things – statistics and (especially) following the rules modern technologies were brought to the world of football. In next two parts of this thesis we focus on goal line technology and Mi-coach chips. 2 Goal line technology 2.1 What it is

Let’s start with an explanation what Goal line technology (GLT) is. It is a system used in football to establish if the ball fully crossed the goal line or not (Moeslund, 2014, p. 67). So it helps to referees to allow or disallow goals in controversial situations. In next paragraphs we will focus how this whole system works and why it is used.

2.2 Why GLT

Every time when there is something new a question “Why?” arises. It is logical, because everything brings up some cost – money, time, labor, etc. But it is obvious in this case. As it was said previously (in Introduction), football is the most popular sport in the world and it is watched by millions people or they are somehow interested in it. But it is getting faster, there are more and more controversial situations and it is still harder to decide whether the ball during football matches fully crosses the goal line or not (simply if it was a goal or not). There was a study which focused on these situations. It deals with speed of the ball of the shot, which a player shoots and feasibility of making “a goal decision”. The hardest (or the quickest) shot in the football has been reported between 84 and 96 miles per hour. This study says that if the ball is hit by a goalkeeper 5 centimeters behind the goal line and bounced back into the field and speed of the shot is 80 mph (approximately 128 kilometers per hour), the ball is in the net for about 0.003 second (O‘Donoghue, 2015, p. 40). This is absolutely crazy and it is almost impossible to see it by a naked eye and to make a decision. And we don’t mention that referee has to be positioned well and he has to avoid failing because of optical illusion. This might be an extreme case, but it can be also very difficult to decide even when the situation would be clearer. But just the claiming that it is to decide whether it was a goal or not is difficult probably would not be enough for bringing the goal line technology. There were some controversial situations in the history of football, when a mistake was made (referee’s decision was wrong) or we can’t still say if it was a goal or not. Many of these moments happened during important matches (World Cup, Champions league) and so speculations about using videos or some technology has come. It lasted for very long time but it finally happened and the GLT has come. Here are some examples of controversial or bad decided situations in important matches during history of the football. It all started in 1966 during World Cup when England and Germany met in the final. English striker Geoff Hurst shot in the overtime, the ball hit the crossbar it bounced off the ground and it went outside. Russian linesman awarded England the third goal, England won and they become World Champions. There were many analysis since then, but nobody knows (and probably nobody will never know) if it was goal or not.

Picture 1: Geoff Hurst's goal Source: Eurosport, 2015b

After 44 years these two teams (England and Germany) met again during World Cup 2010 last-16 match. England was trailing (1-2) when Frank Lampard shot, the ball hit the crossbar, then it clearly went behind the goal (you can see in the picture bellow) and it went outside. English players started to celebrate, but this goal was disallowed. Germany won match 4-1 (and they gained bronze medals in the end). Who knows how it would be if the goal were allowed… Picture 2: Frank Lampard's disallowed goal at World Cup 2010 Source: BBC, 2015

Let’s mention few more controversial situations, which were somehow interesting or important. England was part of the history for the third time during Euro Cup 2012 in match against the host – Ukraine. Ukraine has scored (it should have been 1-1), but the goal was disallowed and Ukraine lost 0-1. English team Crystal Palace was made to feel unsettled by two wrong decisions during years. Once they managed to avoid the relegation, but in 1980 they did not and they left Premier league. Last interesting case happened during match between Watford and Reading in 2008 in Championship (English second league). Referees allowed the goal, but the ball never crossed the line. Manager of Reading Steve Coppell allowed to replay to match (because of this incident), but it was denied by League happening (Eurosport, 2015b). As we can see there were many controversial situations (just few of them were mentioned here) in the history of football and that’s why the GLT was brought in.

2.3 Goal line system

When FIFA decided of allowing Goal line system in the football, many of technologies has arisen. Finally they were only two technologies – “Goal Ref” and “Hawk eye”. The “Goal Ref” is based on a magnetic field. When the ball cross the line, the field is interrupt and the signal (saying that a goal was scored) is sent. The main pro here is that it is very simple and it doesn’t need a “difficult” image processing. But there are coins too. It says it is “not as sexy as” the Hawk eye, because a replay can’t be created by using this system and this is what TV viewers want (Eurosport, 2015a). Hawk eye was selected as new GLT in the end (and Goal line technology is synonym for Hawk Eye now in football).

2.4 How it works

Hawk eye was selected by FIFA as new GLT, now let’s see how this system actually works. It uses several high-speed video cameras to track the ball (Institute Of Physics, 2015). There are seven cameras on each half of the field and every camera provides 500 frames per second (that’s 20 times faster than a normal camera)(Eurosport, 2015a). The cameras are connected to a powerful image processing computer which tracks movements of all objects on the pitch. It removes all players, referees and other objects, which are not important. The remaining object is the ball, system knows the position of the ball with the precision of few millimeters in the coordinate system of the pitch, so it can decide whether ball crossed the line or not. When the ball passes the line, the system sends a vibration and optical signal to the official’s watch. Of course, system stores and provides all controversial situations, so it can be replayed anytime (Goal Control, 2015). So it was an explanation how whole system works, let’s mention some technical details, pros and cons now. It’s been already said that, there are 7 high speed cameras on each half. Although the whole process of the decision looks difficult it is relatively quick. When the ball cross the line, signal to referee’s watch is sent within a second. This is a huge pro, because system can make a difficult decision in very short time. Another pro is that system is very accurate (at least for football). The accuracy is 3.6 millimeters. System is also available to create a visualization of the moment, so there is no arguing about right decision. Of course, there are cons too. At least 25 percent of the ball has to be visible. It can be little bit tricky when there are many players (and legs) in small area. You also have to install high speed cameras and black netting, so whole system is quite expensive, so it is realistic to have this technology only at stadiums (Eurosport, 2015a).

2.5 Using of GLT

This Goal Line Technology was tested for a long time () and finally it was accepted by FIFA. It was used in English Premier League for the first time in the season 2013/2014. It was brought in August 2013 and it was just used during the first week for the first time (FIFA, 2015). It happened during match between Chelsea and Hull City. Chelsea was 2-0 up when Chelsea’s defender Branislav Ivanovic headed ball to Hull goalkeeper Allan McGregor, who saved the ball on the line. GLT was used and it decided correctly and a goal was not given (The Independent, 2015). Picture 3: First using of the Goal Line Technology Source: The Independent, 2015

System was also used during match Manchester City-Cardiff and this time a goal was given (101 Great Goals, 2015). Picture 4: Edin Dzeko's goal given by GLT Source: 101 Great Goals, 2015

But not just Premier League uses this technology. There was World Cup 2014 in Brazil and FIFA decided to use the GLT here too. It turned out to be a good decision when controversial moment arose during a match between France and Honduras. French striker Karim Benzema shot and goalkeeper saved the ball behind the line. Technology was used for the first time in international football, a goal was correctly given and France won 3-0 in the end (State, 2015). Picture 5: Karim Benzema's goal during World Cup 2014 Source: State, 2015

Picture 6: A proof of Benzema's goal Source: State, 2015

The Goal line technology will be introduced in more competitions during a few years, for example German Bundesliga will use it from next season 2015/2016 (Bundesliga, 2015). 3 Sources  101 GREAT GOALS. Edin Dzeko opener for Man City v Cardiff confirmed on Goal Decision system [online]. [cit. 2015-03-22]. Available on: http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/edin-dzeko-opener-for-man-city-v-cardiff- confirmed-on-goal-decision-system/

 BBC. Goal-line technology moves closer after Fifa authorises two systems [online]. [cit. 2015-03-22]. Available on: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/20040048

 BUNDESLIGA. Bundesliga to introduce goal-line technology next season [online]. [cit. 2015-03-24]. Avaliable on: http://www.bundesliga.com/en/liga/news/2014/0000308233.php

 EUROSPORT. Goal-line technology: How does it work? [online]. [cit. 2015-02-23]. Available on: https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/world-of-sport/goal-line- technology-does-164718522.html

 EUROSPORT. Top 10 incidents that show why we need goal-line technology [online]. [cit. 2015-03-22]. Available on: https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/the-rundown/top-10-incidents-show- why-goal-line-technology-144252984.html

 GOAL CONTROL. Goal Control [online]. [cit. 2015-02-23]. Available on: http://www.goalcontrol.de/en/

 INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS. Goalline technology [online]. [cit. 2015-02-23]. Available on: http://www.iop.org/resources/topic/archive/goal-line/

 MOESLUND, Thomas, Graham THOMAS a HILTON. Computer Vision in Sports [online]. 2014 [cit. 2015-02-28]. Dostupné z: https://books.google.cz/books? id=bkJFBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA67&dq=goal%20line %20technology&hl=cs&sa=X&ei=Tbv8VNrGEtKw7Ab9joHYCQ&ved=0CDYQ6AE wAw#v=onepage&q&f=false

 O'DONOGHUE, Peter. An introdution to performance analysis of sport [online]. 2015 [cit. 2015-02-28]. ISBN 978-3-319-09396-3. Available on: https://books.google.cz/books?id=HEaDBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA40&dq=goal%20line %20technology&hl=cs&sa=X&ei=Tbv8VNrGEtKw7Ab9joHYCQ&ved=0CC4Q6AE wAg#v=onepage&q=goal%20line%20technology&f=false

 SPORTEOLOGY. Top 10 Most Popular Sports in The World [online]. [cit. 2015-03- 01]. Available on: http://sporteology.com/top-10-popular-sports-world/  FIFA. English Premier League kicked off with goal-line technology [online]. [cit. 2015-03-22]. Available on: http://quality.fifa.com/en/News/English-Premier- League-kicked-off-with-goal-line-technology/

 STATE. World Cup Goal-Line Technology Gets First Use, Works Just Fine [online]. [cit. 2015-03-22]. Available on: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_spot/2014/06/15/france_vs_honduras_the_wo rld_cup_goal_line_technology_system_works.html

 THE INDEPENDENT. Hawk-Eye passes first test of the season at Stamford Bridge as Branislav Ivanovic 'goal' is not given [online]. [cit. 2015-03-22]. Available on: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/hawkeye- passes-first-test-of-the-season-at-stamford-bridge-as-branislav-ivanovic-goal-is- not-given-8773417.html