The vanishing spray, deployed officially at a major tournament for the first time at this year’s FIFA World Cup, is set to be used deployed by UEFA in its competitions starting this season, starting with next week’s Super Cup match.
The spray, which disapppears within a minute of its use by the referee to mark the spot a free-kick is taken and the minimum required distance for the defensive wall, is to be used in UEFA competition games following a successful trial at the U17 European Championships in Malta.
UEFA President Michel Platini stated ”After a successful test at the 2014 UEFA European Under-17 Championship in Malta, I am pleased that the Referees Committee decided to approve the use of the vanishing spray in our senior competitions.”
Platini added that ”As we all saw at the World Cup, this spray was very useful in helping the referee in free-kick situations, and I am sure we will see similar results in our matches this season.”
On his part, UEFA’s chief refereeing officer Pierluigi Collina stated ”There is no doubt that the spray allows the referees to have an easier control in free-kick situations, as players cannot try to make the wall distance shorter by using the so-called ‘penguin walk’ tactic.”
The spray, which has been used in matches in South America for some time, was used at a FIFA World Cup for the first time earlier this year in Brazil alongside the goal-line technology.
The UEFA Super Cup match between Real Madrid and Sevilla will be the first UEFA match in which the spray will be used on August 12 at Cardiff’s Millenium Stadium.