Goal-line technology to be trialled in England friendly

Goal-line technology will be tested at Wembley when England host Belgium in a friendly on 2 June.

Hawk-Eye, a camera-based system, will be used by independent testers during England's final game before Euro 2012.

But the match officials will have no access to data and the trial will have no impact on any contentious goal-line decisions.

The first live test of Hawk-Eye's system was conducted earlier this month in the Hampshire Senior Cup final.

Calls for goal-line technology have increased with dubious decisions marring a number of high profile games last season.

Chelsea's Juan Mata was awarded a goal that had not crossed the line in his side's 5-1 FA Cup semi-final win over Tottenham on 15 April.

And QPR defender Clint Hill's header was clawed back into play via the crossbar from two feet behind the line by Bolton goalkeeper Adam Bogdan during the London club's 2-1 defeat at the Reebok Stadium on 10 March.

Andy Carroll believed his header had equalised for Liverpool against Chelsea in the FA Cup final, too.

Wembley has seen many controversial goal-line incidents over the years. The most famous came during the 1966 World Cup final, when Sir Geoff Hurst's shot was ruled to have crossed the West German goal-line.

Weeks of talks between Fifa, the Football Association and Hawk-Eye have resulted in an England international being selected to experiment goal-line technology.

England's match, with an expected sell-out crowd of over 85,000, is seen as an ideal test venue.

Fifa's independent appointed testing body - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) - will conduct further tests after Roy Hodgson's first Wembley game in charge of England, and again the following day.

The six cameras per goal that Hawk-Eye require are due to be installed at Wembley over the course of the next week.

In March, football's law-makers - the International Football Association Board (IFAB) - approved two companies - Hawk-Eye and GoalRef - to take part in the second phase of goal-line technology testing.

IFAB are due to make a final decision on the introduction of goal-line technology in early July.

GoalRef is also currently undergoing tests. Denmark's friendly against Australia in Copenhagen, on the same day as England's match with Belgium, is under consideration for a live test.

Barring any last-minute problems, the expectation is that one or both systems under review will gain approval.

If that happens, any league or competition will be free to introduce the systems if they wish.

Despite the Premier League's long-term enthusiasm, the indications are that there may not be sufficient time to install a system in all 20 top-flight stadiums in time for the start of the 2012-13 season.

The German, Swiss and Dutch leagues are also thought to have expressed an interest in adopting the technology.

Fifa's World Club Cup competition in Japan - which will involve newly crowned Champions League winners Chelsea - could also feature one of the approved systems.