FIFA did not identify the nine candidates, all from Europe,
which will be examined between September and December by the Swiss Federal
Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology.
"Each company's respective technology will be
scrutinized across a broad range of criteria, in both daylight and floodlit
conditions," FIFA said in a statement.
FIFA's rule-making body, the International Football
Association Board, will study the results in London next March and invite the
best systems to a second round of trials.
The IFAB panel, composed of FIFA officials and the four
British associations, can approve successful systems at a meeting scheduled
next July.
First, the nine candidates must show their technology's
"recognition of free shots on goal, with 100 percent accuracy required, as
well as static and dynamic accuracy tests, to 90 percent accuracy in the first
phase." FIFA also requires that the match referee must know within one
second if a goal has been scored.
The message is relayed "with both a vibration and
visual signal required to be sent to the referee's watch. This indication must
be received wherever the referee is positioned on the field of play, or within
the technical areas," FIFA said.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter reversed his opposition to tests
after England was denied a clear goal in its second-round loss against Germany
at the 2010 World Cup.
Blatter has said the technology could be in place at the
2014 World Cup in Brazil, though that plan will be opposed by influential UEFA
President Michel Platini. He favors employing additional assistant referees
beside each goal.
Nine systems were previously tested at FIFA headquarters
before the annual IFAB meeting in March but their accuracy was unacceptable.
Hawk-Eye, the Sony-owned company whose ball-tracking
technology is used in tennis and cricket, declined to participate because its
system uses cameras that need to be set up in a stadium.
FIFA said the nine candidates can propose testing venues,
which have still to be agreed for the next round of trials.
