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Goal-line technology (GLT) will arrive in Italy's Serie A from the start of next season after a task force appointed by the Italian Football Association (FIGC) ratified plans for its introduction. FIGC president Carlo Tavecchio said last month that he was in favour of GLT -- which is already being used in the Premier League and will shortly be introduced in the Bundesliga -- also being used in the Italian game. After a meeting of the task force set up to discuss the introduction of GLT on Wednesday, Tavecchio emphasised his conviction that GLT will make its appearance from 2015-16. "The meeting this morning has opened up a path which will lead, within the forecast time-frame, of the goal-line technology in our country," Tavecchio said in a statement. "I'm convinced that its introduction from the start of next season is inextricable." The news has been welcomed by the president of the Italian Referee's Association (AIA) Marcello Nicchi. "It's great," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "We are in favour. This way if anybody's going to make a mistake, then it will be a machine because even technology can still get things wrong." The issue of technology in Italian football has been highlighted of late after Udinese president Giampaolo Pozzo accused Roma coach Rudi Garcia of manipulating referees after seeing his side beaten 1-0 in controversial circumstances on Jan. 6. The Giallorossi won thanks to a goal which was given by the referee, though his goal-line assistant -- who was closer to the action -- felt Davide Astori's header had not fully crossed the line. Meanwhile Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has criticised Italian Referees Association (AIA) president Marcello Nicchi regarding a debate over match officials during the Partenopei's 3-1 home defeat to Juventus on Sunday. De Laurentiis defended a series of tweets he posted after the game accusing referee Paolo Tagliavento and his assistants of being "disingenuous or incompetent." Nicchi rejected his plea for the officials to be suspended, but the Napoli president responded by saying: "By expressing my personal thoughts, I only wanted to highlight how inadequate the actual system is, and how desperately we need to urgently revise it, with instant replay for instance -- something that I have been advocating for many years, and that many other professional sports already use."
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