Yahoo – AFP,
Celine Le Prioux, 17 June 2014
Berlin (AFP) - The company that created the hi-tech cameras which ruled on a World Cup goal for the first time on Sunday is happily anticipating involvement in a growing number of football controversies, but not in its German home market.
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A picture
taken on June 11, 2014 in Sao Paulo shows a GoalControl camera
at the Arena
Corinthians Stadium, on the eve of the opening match of the 2014
FIFA World Cup
in Brazil (AFP Photo/Francois Xavier Marit)
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Berlin (AFP) - The company that created the hi-tech cameras which ruled on a World Cup goal for the first time on Sunday is happily anticipating involvement in a growing number of football controversies, but not in its German home market.
GoalControl,
which aims 14 cameras at the two goals in each World Cup match and produces 500
computer generated 3-D images in a split second, was called into action for the
first time in France's 3-0 Group E win over Honduras.
This is
football and even the way the technology worked caused arguments. But
GoalControl, only set up in 2012, is enjoying its moment in the spotlight.
"The
World Cup is of course an international showcase which will significantly
increase demand for goal-line technology in general and our system in
particular," company chief Dirk Broichhausen told AFP.
In the
match, Karim Benzema's shot cannoned off a post and then hit Honduras
goalkeeper Noel Valladares and went over the line.
The
computer gave two judgements which were flashed onto the stadium screen. The
ball was not over the line when it rebounded off the post, it said. Some fans
thought that was the end of the matter.
Then it
said that there was a goal after the ball hit Valladares.
FIFA said
Monday they will modify the way decisions are communicated to fans. Delia
Fischer, a spokeswoman for football's governing body, said the
"unique" nature of the incident -- the ball striking a post and
rebounding into the Honduran goalkeeper -- had caused the confusion.
GoalControl
which has 40 staff and is based in the small western town of Wuerselen wants to
use the incident to play in the big league.
The system,
under which referees receive a vibration and an optical signal on their watches
in less than one second, was put in place for the Confederations Cup in Brazil
last year. But there was no controversy to test.
The company
surprisingly beat three rivals, Cairos GLT System and GoalRef, which works with
a chip in the ball, and Sony's Hawk-Eye, a camera-based system now used by the
English Premier League.
Goal-line
technology was first used in the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup when the Hawk-Eye and
GoalRef systems were tested. But again there was no contentious goal to rule
on.
"We
are convinced that goal-line technology will emerge in Europe's most important
professional football leagues but also worldwide in coming years,"
predicted Broichhausen, a passionate football fan, in an email to AFP.
For now,
however, Germany is resisting. Germany's 36 first and second division clubs
voted in March to reject the precision technology.
The debate
was revived two months later, however, in the German Cup final. The referee
failed to grant a valid goal to Borussia Dortmund against arch-rivals Bayern
Munich, who won in extra time.
Broichhausen
said GoalControl costs about 200,000 euros ($270,000) for each stadium.
The company
chief did not want to comment on the turnover generated by his business, but
German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung recently put GoalControl sales at just
less than 10 million euros.
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