Champions League to Use Two Referee Assistants on Goal Lines This Season

Europe’s Champions League will be one of several competitions to use two extra assistant referees after soccer officials approved the system for another season.

The technical subcommittee of the International Football Association Board, the sport’s rules-maker, approved the plan at a meeting today in Cardiff, Wales. The IFAB is made up of world governing body FIFA and the English, Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh soccer associations.

Europe’s second-tier Europa League cup competition last season used the system, which placed an assistant referee behind each goal line. The Champions League and UEFA Super Cup were added this season, as well as other competitions worldwide. The experiment is scheduled to continue until 2012, the IFAB said in a statement.

The board also said the issue of goal-line technology would be discussed at a meeting in October.

Calls for the introduction of technology increased after England’s Frank Lampard had a tying goal disallowed during a World Cup second-round match loss to Germany last month. His shot hit the underside of the crossbar and landed over the goal line but was unseen by match officials, with television replays clearly showing it as a goal.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter later said technology would be discussed at today’s meeting, but it wasn’t on the agenda. The IFAB in March decided against the use of goal-line technology.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Bensch in London at bbensch@bloomberg.net.