Euro 2016: Top 10 football technologies we want to see to improve the beautiful game
As UEFA 2016 kicks off we examine the tech we'd love to see by the next tournament
Ah, football. Loved by millions, full of passion, finesse, tactics and drama. Who can say what will happen over the next few weeks at UEFA 2016 (aside from England underwhelming once again)?
The beautiful game is all about the action on the field, but technology has a role to play, from the action replays to giant screens at the ground.
V3 has brought its technological know-how to the world of football to see how else we think technology could play a part in the development of the game.
10. Robot referees
Referees make mistakes. They're only human, after all. So why not remove them from the game entirely and replace them with an army of robot referees?
They'd never make mistakes, there would be no accusations of bias and no player would dare try intimidating a RefBot 3000.
What's more it would give rise to new tech-oriented chants: 'Who's the w*nker with the faulty circuit boards?'
Euro 2016: Top 10 football technologies we want to see to improve the beautiful game
As UEFA 2016 kicks off we examine the tech we'd love to see by the next tournament
9. Virtual broadcasts in other stadiums
Everyone would love to go to the World Cup final, but only 60,000 to 90,000 can depending on the stadium.
But what if special cameras in the host stadium were able to capture all the players' movements, broadcast this data to cameras in other stadiums and then 'beam' the action onto the pitch as a hologram.
It may not look as real, but it would allow fans near any equipped stadium to watch a match as if in the stands.
Sound far-fetched? Well, Japan promised to do just this in the country's 2022 World Cup bid, although sadly it was beaten by Qatar (yeah that's still happening).
Euro 2016: Top 10 football technologies we want to see to improve the beautiful game
As UEFA 2016 kicks off we examine the tech we'd love to see by the next tournament
8. Video referees
OK, if robot refs are perhaps a way off, if ever, video referees, as have now long existed in rugby, would be a good addition.
It would take time to get it right but the benefits to the game could be huge in avoiding too many incorrect decisions - handballs, offsides, fouls, that sort of thing - affecting matches.
Trials to get it up and running should happen as soon as possible, although whether FIFA and its ilk get around to it any time soon is unlikely, given how long it took to do something as simple as boot Sepp Blatter out the door .
Euro 2016: Top 10 football technologies we want to see to improve the beautiful game
As UEFA 2016 kicks off we examine the tech we'd love to see by the next tournament
7. Data from the ball during matches
There's loads of data in football, covering the number of passes, distance run, corners wasted and so on. But there's very little data on the thing around which all this is based: the ball.
Sure, it may not serve any practical purpose (at least that we can think of) but stats on the ball - how far it travelled, the pressure it came under, how much time it spent in the air, how many times it spun around - would be fascinating.
Given the rise in tiny IoT sensors, we don't see why this couldn't happen sooner rather than later. It would certainly be an easy and fun bit of PR for ball manufacturers.
Euro 2016: Top 10 football technologies we want to see to improve the beautiful game
As UEFA 2016 kicks off we examine the tech we'd love to see by the next tournament
6. Virtual reality to relive classic matches
As virtual reality becomes increasingly common we'd love it if you could watch matches from inside a VR world, so you could imagine you were the in stadium, or in the manager's dug out, or even a player.
This may not work so well for live matches, but it would be brilliant if you could see a famous match from football history from the eyes of a key player - Geoff Hurst in 1966, Maradona in 1986, Zidane in 1998 etc.
Euro 2016: Top 10 football technologies we want to see to improve the beautiful game
As UEFA 2016 kicks off we examine the tech we'd love to see by the next tournament
5. Player health and fitness data
Another one for the number crunchers. It doesn't seem to hard to imagine that attaching a few wearable sensors to players could gather health data such as heartrate, blood pressure and so on.
This would be useful for coaches who could understand when and why players start flagging during matches, and for fans who could finally prove that that expensive centre forward really is a lazy $*$(%(.
Euro 2016: Top 10 football technologies we want to see to improve the beautiful game
As UEFA 2016 kicks off we examine the tech we'd love to see by the next tournament
4. Social media tactic voting
How often do you decry the decisions made by football managers, wondering what on Earth they're thinking?
Why not let fans vote on the next tactical decisions instead, like which sub to bring on, whether to play defensively or offensively, whether the goalie should be sent up for a corner in the last minute at 1-0 down (obviously yes).
Social media people are more than comfortable 'second-screening', so it wouldn't stretch fans too much to vote in-play on the next bit of action, and it would make a change from betting in-play, as fans are so often encouraged to do.
Euro 2016: Top 10 football technologies we want to see to improve the beautiful game
As UEFA 2016 kicks off we examine the tech we'd love to see by the next tournament
3. Player-worn camera feeds
The number of camera angles available to TV viewers has never been more varied, but we want more.
Imagine if tiny, lightweight cameras could be inserted into the kits of the players to offer ‘Player View' angles for key moments such as penalties, free-kicks, goals and great saves. It would offer a unique and brilliant insight into what the game actually looks like from the key positions.
The GoPro has made it possible to do this in more extreme sports, so if the technology can be shrunk even smaller there's no reason it couldn't work in football.
Obviously taking off shirts and hurling them into the crowd would have to be outlawed.
Euro 2016: Top 10 football technologies we want to see to improve the beautiful game
As UEFA 2016 kicks off we examine the tech we'd love to see by the next tournament
2. Automatic time keeping
Time wasting is one of the most frustrating elements of modern football, with players writhing around in agony after the most delicate of knocks.
Mostly it's done to waste precious seconds on the clock and reduce the amount of playing time a team has to win a match. This puts a lot of pressure on refs to keep tabs on the time and add enough injury time at the end.
So why not remove the pressure from the refs by having automatic time keeping that knows exactly when play was stopped and for how long, and adds the exact amount of time on again at the end.
This would eradicate time wasting, and players rolling around in agony would really be in pain and could get treated faster, rather than everyone assuming they are crying wolf.
Euro 2016: Top 10 football technologies we want to see to improve the beautiful game
As UEFA 2016 kicks off we examine the tech we'd love to see by the next tournament
1. Goal line tech for all grounds Goal line technology is something England has always been glad didn't exist in 1966 and 2012 but definitely could have done with in 2010.
Slowly it is becoming standard. The 2014 World Cup was the first major tournament to include the technology, which came in handy once or twice even if it did make BBC commentator Jonathan Pearce's brain explode (watch below if you can bear it).
But, it really needs to become standard at all grounds, in any professional league, to ensure that other unjust situations don't occur. After all, the technology works and doesn't ruin the game, and it will undoubtedly get cheaper and easier to install.
As such there's no reason why Accrington Stanley v Plymouth Argyle shouldn't have the latest goal line tech.