Sepp Blatter determined to push through goal-line system

FIFA president Sepp Blatter insists he would “die” if he witnesses another World Cup goal-line blunder such as Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal for England.

Blatter believes he can convince football’s law-makers to agree to bring in goal-line technology despite the opposition of some of the game’s most senior figures.

Blatter arrived in England yesterday for a meeting of the International FA Board, who will be given a report on the latest tests of goal-line systems ahead of a final decision in July.

Uefa president Michel Platini and Franz Beckenbauer, head of Fifa’s Football Taskforce 2014, are both fiercely opposed to the technology but Blatter has pushed for it since the embarrassment of Lampard’s disallowed goal during the 2010 World Cup match against Germany when the ball was clearly some way over the goal line.

Blatter said: “We don’t want a repeat of the last World Cup. I think I can convince the IFAB board that we must go forward with technology. We cannot afford to just wait and see what happens.

“Platini doesn’t want it but I wouldn’t be again in a World Cup and witness another situation – I would die.”

The IFAB is made up of Fifa, who have four votes, and the four home nations, who have one each.

Two systems, one of them developed by British company Hawkeye, are understood to now be close to fulfilling all the criteria demanded but other systems failed hopelessly when tested by Fifa.