121st Annual General Meeting of the International Football Association Board

At its meeting today in Manchester, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), the guardian of the Laws of the Game, set down criteria for all future experiments involving goal-line technology.

Any proposed system seeking IFAB approval must meet the following four principles:

• The technology should apply only to goal-line technology

• The system must be 100% accurate

• The indication of whether or not the ball has crossed the line must be instantaneous between the system and the referee

• The signal is communicated only to the match officials.

The Board also received a presentation from adidas/Cairos and the FA Premier League on two different systems.

Among the other items discussed were:

• It was decided that the next IFAB Sub-Committee would establish a common protocol for dealing with injured players.

• The Board stressed that any pitch-side monitors should not be visible from the technical areas.

• FIFA raised the intentional use of elbows and presented the guidance to referees ahead of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. It was accepted that these guidelines should be uniformly applied.

• Artificial pitches should be green in colour. This will be integrated into the FIFA Quality Concept.

• A protocol for referees’ communication systems was established, specifying that the system should only link the match officials, that it is not broadcast and that it is not recorded.

The Board approved changes to the wording of the Laws of the Game in the
following areas:

• Prohibiting any type of advertising on the ground within the technical area

• Any undershirts or undershorts must be the same main colour as the player’s kit

• The player’s equipment must not carry any political, religious or personal statements

• A reserve assistant referee may be appointed under competitions rules but would only become involved if one of the assistant referees is unable to continue

• A player may not celebrate a goal by covering their head or face by a mask or similar item

Under Any Other Business, the following issues were discussed:

• A proposal by FIFA for two additional assistant referees was referred to the IFAB Sub-Committee for further study.

• The wearing of a hijab is already covered by Law 4 on Players’ Equipment.

The IFAB is composed of representatives from the football associations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as FIFA. The four British associations have one vote apiece, while FIFA, representing its 203 other members, has four votes, with any proposal requiring a three-quarter majority (i.e six of the eight votes) to be approved.