Bundesliga clubs reject use of goal-line technology

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Bundesliga clubs have rejected a proposal to introduce goal-line technology and the project has been shelved indefinitely.

A meeting between the 36 clubs in the first and second divisions on Monday failed to provide a two-thirds majority needed to implement the technology, with many citing the high cost of installing a system as the reason for turning down the proposal.

''The costs are so exorbitant that it's not bearable,'' said Joerg Schmaedtke, managing director of second-division Cologne.

A goal-line system would have cost each club about (euro) 500,000 ($688,700) for three years. Bayern Munich and some other top clubs were in favor of the technology but could not convince the others.

''We regret the outcome,'' Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said. ''We are going to continue to have to live with wrong decisions. Those who voted against should stop lamenting then.''

Hamburger SV managing director Oliver Kreuzer presented a different view.

''We debate over one, two or three decisions in a season. Sometimes you are on the right end of things, sometimes not. It evens out. On the other side, you have extreme costs. It doesn't pay off.''

German Football League President Reinhard Rauball said half of the 18 top-tier clubs voted for the technology. German referees, who are under close scrutiny, have backed the project.

''The topic has been shelved for the time being,'' Rauball said.

The league tested four available systems. In the past, most German clubs said the technology wasn't precise enough.

A German company, Goal Control, will provide such technology at the World Cup in Brazil.

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