The International Football Association Board (IFAB) have unanimously approved the use of goal-line technology after a meeting in Zurich.
They have allowed the use of both Hawk-Eye and Goal-Ref at the Club World Cup in December.
The announcement comes after years of campaigning for football's governing body to follow the example of cricket and tennis with the use of Hawk-Eye, and the system could be in place at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
The technology must be tested each time it is installed in a new stadium, with the first use coming in Tokyo in the Club World Cup, a competition in which Chelsea will be competing.
Technology has been a hot topic in the footballing world for a number of years now, with two high-profile cases arising in the last two major international tournaments.
In the 2010 World Cup, Frank Lampard's strike against Germany was disallowed despite clearly crossing the line, while England benefited from a similar error of judgement against Ukraine at this summer's European Championships.
IFAB met in Zurich this afternoon before returning their historic verdict on a day that the FA's Alex Horne described as "hugely important".
The technology could possibly be in place midway through the coming Premier League season after the league released a statement saying that they will be looking to implement it as soon as possible.
