Here we go again.

FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, has promised to address the growing controversy over goalline technology ever since last summer’s refereeing debacle at the World Cup in South Africa. Just a few months ago, its seems as if we were on the cusp of something tangible that could be implemented well before the much-anticipated 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Well, now it seems that the always incompetent, likely corrupt outfit is scrambling to get something — anything — approved in time for Brazil, and it’s now setting a July 2012 deadline to give a green light for a next-gen goal-detection system.

Any company that wants to take part in the testing, to be conducted this fall, must notify FIFA of their intentions by June 3.

The testing itself will comprise of three phases. First, balls will be kicked into the net from various spots on the soccer field. The system must detect 100 percent of these goals, or else it’s out.

If it passes that initial stage, then it will qualify for more rigorous testing in the spring, which will involve both dynamic and static tests. In one case, a ball will be kicked against a flat wall aligning with the goalline. The wall will then move back inside the goal, at changing distances on various kicks, and the system must detect the goal with at least 90 percent accuracy. Another test will involve a ball being placed within a mechanism that’ll move it slowly across the goalline. The ball will be rotated at varying speeds, and a 90 percent success rate is also expected here.

There was already a round of testing earlier this year, but no company could sufficiently develop a system that met FIFA’s standards for goal detection, most importantly that the referee be notified (through wristwatch notification) in under a second that a goal has been scored.

Whether Hawk-Eye Innovations and other startups that can rise to the challenge will go a long way toward knowing if we’re in for another international brouhaha come 2014.

Photo: Flickr/fastlizard4, CC