The Concept of Sideline Technology

If asked about the first word that comes to your mind when you think about football, the word “accuracy” may not be top of the list. That being said, it certainly is the most important aspect of the modern game. For example, goal-line technology has been a resounding success in the world of football. Since its inception, the process of awarding controversial goals has been much more transparent and efficient than ever before, and fans have been able to have peace of mind, knowing that the right call has been made. The demons of Frank Lampard’s “ghost goal” in South Africa — where his would-be goal against Germany was ruled out because of a faulty linesman call — were exorcized with this technology.

For goal-line technology to work, it requires multiple high speed cameras aimed towards each goal. When the ball is hit towards goal and lands on the goal-line, the cameras send the images to a master data machine, which in turn calculates the positioning, speed, and other data. This data forms a precise rendition of the ball’s closest position to the goal-line, and is sent straight to the referee’s wrist watch as a ‘goal’ or ‘no goal’ signal. The crazy part? This all happens in a fraction of a second.

Goal-line technology worked so well that FIFA announced semi-automated offside technology for the 2022 World Cup. The concept was basically the same as goal-line technology, where camaras would decide if a striker was offside (in front of the last defender at the moment of the pass). Just like its counterpart, semi-automated offside was a massive success in Qatar; Seri A, Italy’s premier division, has already confirmed plans to introduce semi-automated offside after January 27th, 2024. 

Yes, modern football is accurate. There’s also no getting around the fact that there’s still one glaring, deafening issue. The lack of sideline technology.

The general concept of sideline technology is pretty simple. It's basically taking the workings of 

goal-line technology, and wrapping it across an entire football field sideline. In this way, referees would know for sure whether or not the ball has gone out of bounds, if it's a close call.

Initially, this doesn't sound like that big of a deal. What's the point? I know some of you are already saying, Shouldn’t camera angles work just fine to determine if the ball went over the line? Isn’t that what linesmen officials are for?

Frank Lampard's disallowed goal (shown here) would give rise to the implementation of goal-line technology.

For all of you nay-sayers out there, you just need to think back to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, where Japan were playing for their world cup lives, against Spain in the final group E match. In the fifty-first minute, Kaoru Mitoma, desperate to keep a ball from heading out of play for a Spanish goal-kick, stretched out his leg to prod the ball back into the penalty box, where Ao Tanaka was lurking, and poached the ball into the net. 

Initially, it seemed that the ball had gone out of play, and the referee called for a Spanish goal-kick. After a review by VAR, however, it was decided that the ball hadn’t gone out of play. Japan went on to win the game, and finish top of the group. Germany finished third and were sent home early, as Tanaka’s goal proved the difference. Japan celebrated, and Spain thanked their lucky stars that they had thrashed Costa Rica seven–zero in the first round, and weren’t joining Germany on the plane ride home. 

But what if the ball had gone out of play?

You see, after the game, different angles surfaced of the ball on the touchline, sending mixed signals as to whether or not the ball had stayed in bounds. Some angles showed the ball being clearly over the line,

while other angles made it seem like the ball had stayed in. 

It's so fascinating to know that even in 2024, with all the money spent towards fancy equipment like video assistant referee or high definition cameras, all in the name of ensuring that the right outcome is made, we still have a glaring gap in football accuracy. Knowing whether or not the ball has gone out of bounds can be just as crucial as knowing whether or not the ball has crossed the goal-line; if a play leading up to a goal included a moment where the ball went out of play, the goal must be chalked off. 

A microscopic distance, with enormous significance.

So why haven't we implemented sideline technology yet? There's just one reason, and it's the universal reason for almost everything: it's simply too expensive to implement on a wide scale. Goal-line technology on its own costs about two-hundred and sixty thousand dollars to implement per field, and that's just covering a two-and-a-half by three-and-a-half meter wide goal on either end of a football field. Try to implement that across a sideline, which averages around three-hundred and sixty meters in perimeter, and you can start to see the costs increase. Assuming that every three-and-a-half meters costs one-hundred and thirty thousand dollars, you're looking at around forty-six million dollars for touchline technology.

If you thought that was bad, remember that touch line technology would have to accurately give feedback no matter how high the ball is in the air. In football, if the ball stays within the touchline, you could punt the ball to the moon and still play on. Therefore, the “area” of the touchline technology would be theoretically infinite. 

While forty-six million dollars isn’t a lot for the top tier teams in Europe, once you start traveling down the leagues, you realize that lower league teams don't make as much money, and that their margins are razor thin. In fact, It’s hard enough for the establishment of universal goal-line technology; many teams in the English Championship and below cannot afford goal-line technology, meaning that the technology is not allowed to be used in FA Cup games, for fear of an uneven playing field. If we can't even establish universal goal-line technology, then how on earth will we establish sideline technology?

And even if FIFA tried to make solutions, like limiting the height at which the ball could stay in bounds, that’s essentially asking to change the fundamental laws of the game. Technology in football has always been there to assist, not to assert.

In essence, the concept of sideline technology is fantastic. It fixes the last area of uncertainty on a football field, ensuring that players, coaches, pundits, and fans are never left in the dark again. However, the barriers are simply too big for it to not only be widely used, but to be usable at all. 

It doesn’t seem like we’ll be getting sideline technology any time soon. Players, coaches, pundits, and fans will have to accept that football is not as accurate as we may want it to be. Maybe that's a good thing. In the world of data points and scrutinized details, having one area of human error, which brings out the human side to the sport, may be exactly what we wanted all along.

Is human error sometimes a benefit? Does the factual correctness of every play take the fun out of the game? I would like to know your thoughts.