France’s Ligue 1 has been in the spotlight this year with two teams in this year’s Champions League quarterfinal.
Now the league is making more news with their announcement today to use goal-line technology for the 2015-2016 season.
France changed their position after declaring for months they would not use the technology.
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“It’s now cheaper. And given the considerable drop in prices, I considered that France had no right to stay away from what is happening elsewhere,” said Frédéric Thiriez, president of the French professional football league.
The technology is currently being used by the English Premiere League and during the FIFA World Cup. It was most recently announced for this year’s Women’s World Cup in Canada.
The German Bundesliga has already announced its intentions of using English based Hawk-Eye goal-line technology for next season as well. It is a strange decision given that Hawk-Eye’s main rival, GoalControl, is based out of Germany and was proven effective during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Italy’s first division, Serie A, will be using it for their 2015-2016 season as well.
One organization not so keen on using the technology is UEFA.
Reports in March of this year indicated UEFA president Michel Platini was “totally against technology” and that he would use an additional referee at the goal-line instead of goal-line cameras.
But in June FIFA President Seth Blatter said he had spoken with Platini and was told UEFA would implement goal-line technology in the 2016 UEFA Championships in France, Platini’s home country.
In any case, the French Ligue 1’s willingness to use goal-line technology marks the fourth of the five major soccer leagues to commit to goal-line technology.
Spain’s La Liga has powerhouse clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona waiting to use the technology.
And only time will tell for UEFA. The European Championships are fast approaching, and there has been no recent word from Platini. Surely the pressure of giving in to goal-line technology mounts every time another league announces their intentions to use it.