19.01.2016 17:02 h

Top referee backs goal-line technology for Euros

Euro 2016 provides "a good opportunity" for UEFA to introduce goal-line technology (GLT), the European federation's chief referee Pierluigi Collina said Tuesday, with a final decision expected this week.

"We are comfortable for the (UEFA) Executive Committee to make the decision now, because our review of the process has just concluded," Collina said in a statement two days before Europe's top football brass meet in Nyon, Switzerland.

"We also feel that with UEFA EURO 2016 around the corner, it is a good opportunity for UEFA to introduce GLT at a big tournament," he added.

The technology is already used in the English Premier League, Italy's Serie A, the German Bundesliga and Ligue 1 in France.

FIFA also brought it in for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil after a series of successful trials.

Fallen UEFA boss Michel Platini had said he was open to GLT if Europe's referee's felt it could enhance accurate officiating.

But the Frenchman will not preside over this week's executive committee meet -- when the GLT decision will be made -- following his eight-year ban from football by FIFA judges over an ethics violation.

Collina stressed that the technology would not make the additional referees introduced in 2012 redundant, insisting it would allow them to better focus on their primary role of monitoring overall activity in the penalty area.

"With goal-line technology, the additional assistants are released from this demanding task, and can focus exclusively on the control of other incidents on the field," he said.