Uefa president Platini opposed to goal-line technology

Uefa president Platini opposed to goal-line technology
Michel Platini
Michel Platini took over as Uefa president in 2006

Uefa president Michel Platini believes goal-line technology would lead to "Playstation football".

Fifa has reopened discussions on the subject but Platini said an assistant behind each goal and greater respect for referees were the solutions.

"The referee has to be helped by clubs, fans, players, media and authorities," he told the Scottish Football Association's website.

"It is why we have added two assistants for Champions League games."

Last week the International Football Association Board (IFAB), Fifa's rulemaking division, asked technology companies to present ideas by the end of November.

Systems would then be tested in advance of the IFAB meeting in March, when the next stages of the process of implementation would be discussed.

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But Platini said on a visit to Glasgow that an extra pair of eyes behind each goal, as is the case in this season's Champions League, is the logical answer.

"One referee is not enough, not in the modern era where you have 20 cameras," stated Platini, who became Uefa president in 2006.

"It is unfair - the cameras can see everything but the referee only has one pair of eyes. Every time he makes a mistake, those cameras are there to focus on it.

"It is why for the past 10 years I have asked to change the job of the referee, to help improve the situation and to give the referees better support.

"These people are going to make mistakes and to be a referee I think you have to be a masochist. The system is bad and I have known this for 40 years.

"It is a logical step with so many cameras that can pick up incidents: the more eyes there to assist the referee, the better the chance of spotting those incidents."

Fifa scrapped goal-line technology experiments in 2008 after deciding systems that worked in other sports - such as the Hawk-Eye innovation used in tennis and cricket - were unsuitable for football.

Fifa also tested a system using a microchip in the ball but decided it was too complicated and also lacked sufficient accuracy.

But after recent incidents, such as the Frank Lampard strike that was not given as a goal in England's 4-1 World Cup loss to Germany in June, despite clearly crossing the line, Fifa decided to take another look at possible solutions.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter said it would be "a nonsense not to reopen the file" on technology and referred the matter to the IFAB.

Frank Lampard's shot against Germany

Lampard denied clear goal