By Andrew Warshaw

goalline technologyDecember 11 - UEFA President Michel Platini is sticking to his firm stance against goal-line technology – exactly at the time it is currently being used for the first time in official competition.

Platini says the money spent installing such scientific aids would be best spent developing the game elsewhere even though FIFA has heeded the call to pull the game into the 21st century – starting with the current Club World Cup in Japan.

Platini said it would cost €50 million (£40 million/$65 million) over five years to introduce similar technology in UEFA competitions.

Speaking to reporters in Kuala Lumpur after a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between UEFA and  the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Platini said: "I prefer to give 50 million (euros) to grassroots rather than goal-line technology for perhaps one or two incidents a year."

The Club World Cup, involving the winners of continental club competitions, is running both the Hawk-Eye and GoalRef systems at a cost of $1 million (£62,000/€77,000) over the eight-game competition.

But while fans have called for years for football to embrace goal-line technology to eliminate human error, Platini has repeatedly warned it will lead to technology encroaching into other areas of the game and has instead chosen his alternative idea of using two additional assistants.

AFC acting President Zhang Jilong said the AFC would study the use of the technology at the Club World Cup before making a decision.

"This is something new," he said.

"After the tests during the World Club Championships in Tokyo, we will see whether it can be adopted by all the competitions or not."

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