How goal-line technology works in the Championship

Plymouth Argyle: How goal-line technology works in the Championship

Among the changes that newly-promoted Plymouth Argyle will have to get used to in the Championship next season is the use of goal-line technology across all games.

There is no VAR (Video Assistant Referee) in the second tier of English football but there is a system in place to decide on whether a ball has crossed the goal-line or not. It will prevent repeats of incidents such as one in the closing stages of Argyle's League One game against Sheffield Wednesday at Home Park last October.

The Pilgrims thought they had taken a 2-1 lead with a header from Sam Cosgrove which appeared to have crossed the line before it was hooked away by Wednesday defender Michael Ihiekwe via the underside of the crossbar.

The match officials decided it had not gone in, though, but moments later Cosgrove did score with a header to win the game.

After winning the League One title with 101 points, Argyle are returning to the Championship for the first time since they were relegated in 2010.

Hawk-Eye installs 14 cameras inside a stadium. The most common locations are on the roofs, at the back of the stands or on catwalks and gantries that overlook the pitch.

The images from each of these cameras are fed back to a central processing unit onsite allowing the ball to be tracked within the goal area in real time.

As soon as the goal-line technology system detects the ball has crossed the line it sends a signal to the GLT watch of the referee within one second

Once a goal-line incident has occurred a replay is available showing the definitive angle. It comes from a high speed camera positioned on the goal line capable of removing the players form the image to ensure the ball is fully visible and is said to be millimetre accurate.