Premier League set a date to bring in goal-line technology

Frank Lampard's goalline agonies will soon be consigned to history, according to Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore.

Within the space of 10 months, Lampard, Chelsea's England midfielder, experienced both sides of the debate over goalline technology.

First, he saw what would have been a World Cup equaliser for England in their showdown with Germany disallowed after it had clearly crossed the line in South Africa last summer.

Controversy: Heurelho Gomes stops the ball on the line after he spilled Frank Lampard's shot

Then, last season, he had a goal awarded to him despite Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes preventing the midfielder's shot from going completely over the line in their Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge.

Now Scudamore, in Hong Kong for the Barclays Asia Trophy - won by Chelsea when they beat Aston Villa 2-0 - has promised that the Premier League will introduce goalline technology for the start of the 2012-13 season.

FIFA, football's world governing body, will have to give their final approval to one of the competing systems. But that decision is due in March at their international board meeting.

Scudamore said: 'That game against Germany in the World Cup was remarkable when you consider the balance of the match, who was involved and what was at stake.

'It was 2-1 and goals in those circumstances don't just change games, they change lives. At 2-2 England would have been odds-on to win it because the Germans would have been absolutely bemused as to how they could possibly be drawing the game at that point. They were a very young team.'

Agony: Germany keeper Manuel Neuer watches Lampard's shot cross the line during the 2010 World Cup

FIFA will test the competing systems before their international board deliver their vedict. The front-runners are Hawk-Eye, which is already used in tennis and cricket, and the Cairos System developed by German sportswear giants adidas.

Hawk-Eye employs cameras and needs to be referred to a fourth official, who reviews the evidence and tells the referee whether or not a goal should be given.

Cairos uses sensors contained in electronic cables, which signal instantly to the referee whether the ball, which contains a microchip, has crossed the line.

The Hawk-Eye system is slower and at £250,000 per stadium more expensive than the Cairos system, which costs around £120,000. But an older version of the Cairos system was used in the 2005 Under-17 World Cup in Peru - and found wanting.

'We are not going to risk our competition on stuff that doesn't work,' said Scudamore. 'I agree with FIFA that there has to be some strict criteria for it. The signal [from the technology] has to be instant and it has to be accurate.

'The technology people have to convince FIFA; they are the ones who set the laws of the game. But our position is clear.

'Once FIFA approve those companies, then we, the Premier League, will be in the absolute forefront of any move to bring it in. Our clubs approved the concept three years ago and it has been frustrating not being able to implement it.

'The amount of times we will be using it is few compared to cricket. It will be less frequent than a sending-off and some referees go through a season without showing a red card.

'There are about 25-30 sendingsoff in a season and you are just not going to get that number of goalline disputes.'

Scudamore says that he does not accept the argument that once the technology is introduced it will inevitably be extended to include offsides and penalties.

'A ball crossing a line is an absolute matter of fact,' he said. 'Anything else is a matter of opinion; whether it was a foul or not or whether it was inside or outside the box. There is so much more subjectivity involved in those decisions. Why we are so overwhelmingly supportive of goalline technology is because the answer is yes or no.'