ALL CHANGE AT FIFA

Fifa president Sepp Blatter has confirmed that goal-line technology will be used in next year's World Cup finals if an experiment later this month proves successful.

Four stadia are being fitted out with the 'smartball' technology for the Fifa U17 World Championships in Peru. The technology will send the referee a signal every time the ball goes out of play or into the goal.

Delegates from the International FA Board will attend the tournament to monitor the experiment and a decision on introducing the system for the World Cup will be taken at a meeting in October.

Speaking in London, Blatter revealed: "We will definitely use the technology in Germany next year if the experiment works in Peru."

The tournament in Peru will see 32 matches played with adidas' smartball system where the ball contains a microchip that sends a signal whenever it passes over sensors in the touchline. The referee is alerted by a special device worn on his wrist and should then be in a position to make the correct decision.

Meanwhile, the Football Association will press ahead with efforts to find a way to field a Great Britain football team for the 2012 Olympics in London after being given the green light by Blatter.

Fifa has given written guarantees that a British team will compete in the Games and that their participation will not affect the four home nations' separate representation on the game's world governing body.

FA executive director David Davies, the FA's representative on the British Olympic Association (BOA) and the head of a working group looking at ways of fielding a British team in 2012, welcomed Blatter's comments.

"What Mr Blatter has said is clearly welcomed by those of us who believe we have a positive contribution to make to football and the Olympics," said Davies. "We would hope people will be open-minded about this and certainly Fifa has made its position absolutely clear.

"We have had a working party looking at the options and we will come forward with those and see what is the best way to achieve unanimity."

Britain qualify automatically as Olympic hosts but it is unlikely that there will be a British Olympic football team beyond 2012 because no united British team plays in the qualifying tournament, which is the European U21 Championships.