The Premier League is set to become the first major domestic soccer league to use goal-line technology (GLT) after club chairmen voted on Thursday to approve its introduction.
From next season, Premier League matches will be monitored by Hawk-Eye’s camera-based ball-tracking system after the Sony-owned company was awarded the contract ahead of three other Fifa-licensed products: GoalRef, GoalControl GmbH and Cairos.
Hawk-Eye’s system, which has already been successfully deployed in tennis and cricket, sends a signal to the referee’s watch within a second of the ball crossing the line. The match official will then have the final say on a disputed goal.
Installation of the system, which costs around UK£250,000 per ground, is expected to take up to six weeks to complete.
Hawk-Eye was first trialled at Southampton's St Mary's Stadium last year before being tested in competition at December's Fifa Club World Cup in Japan.
It's system is expected to be used for the first time in English soccer at August's season-opening Community Shield match at Wembley Stadium.
Spain's La Liga is also currently looking into using GLT, although it will not implement a system as soon as the Premier League.
After persistent and widespread calls for its use, GLT was finally approved in July 2012 at a meeting of soccer's rule-making body, the International Football Association Board (IFAB).
While Hawk-Eye's system will be used in the Premier League, the British-based company lost out on a Fifa contract earlier this month when world soccer's governing body appointed German firm GoalControl GmbH to provide GLT for the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil.
If successful this summer, the GoalControl-4D system will be used in next year's World Cup.
Hawk-Eye’s in-post sensors, as well as seven cameras per goal, will track the ball and alert the referee if a goal is scored.
