Hawk-Eye to watch over Premier League

The Premier League are set to look at the Hawk-Eye technology introduced in tennis and at this year's Wimbledon.

The ball-tracking system will be tested at Reading's academy with hopes of a "blind trial" next season when it could be tried in matches but not used by the officials.

Paul Hawkins, managing director of Hawk-Eye Innovations, told BBC Five Live's Sportsweek: "We have a contract with the Premier League to develop a system purely to resolve the dispute whether the ball crossed the line, purely for the referee and not for television."

He added: "The process is to be evaluated by the Premier League and then by FIFA, if we jump those hurdles then the end aim is to have it installed in all Premier League grounds hopefully."

Hawk-Eye was brought in for the Wimbledon championships at the All England Club this year, with Rafael Nadal questioning its reliability since. It was also responsible for a surreal finale to Venus Williams' second-round victory over Alicia Molik as a decision was disputed on match-point.

Those in favour of technology in football point to ending the argument in instances such as Chelsea's famous Champions League defeat to Liverpool when it was unclear whether Luis Garcia's strike crossed the line.

Hawkins believes the technology could be a part of the Premier League within two years if tests go to plan and it receives FIFA approval.

He added: "It will be tested next month and the process will evolve from there.

"It took a couple of years in tennis from the start of tests to it being used and we can probably expect the same timeframe.

"A few players like Nadal have questioned it but every single time it has been proven to be correct so it's been an overriding success."