FIFA to use `vanishing spray` during 2014 Rio World Cup to designate distances for free kicks

Johannesburg – FIFA president Sepp Blatter has said that a vanishing spray, which is being currently used at the Club World Cup in Morocco to designate distances for free kicks, will also be used during the 2014 Football World Cup in Brazil.

Referees have been spraying the water-based, shaving cream-like foam on fields in Morocco to ensure that players lining up a defensive wall against a free kick respect the 9.15m distance to the spot of the infraction, where a circle is sprayed to keep attackers from rolling the ball forward.

According to Sport24, Blatter said that as they have started using the spray in all their competitions this year, they would be going on the same path in the 2014 World Cup, adding that although he was skeptical about using the foam in the beginning, he realised that it is good for the discipline of the game after having discussed with referees who had used the system.

Enthused over the reception of his product that was six years in the making, developer Pablo Silva said that the Argentina Football Federation president Julio Grondona was instrumental in introducing the spray — termed 9:15 for the distance — into the country’s domestic leagues.

The report also mentioned that the spray, which works on all surfaces, was introduced into the FIFA-organized Under-20 World Cup earlier this year, and Silva is currently developing an orange colour to use on snow.