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The technology will make the traditional two-dimensional TV picture of a football game into an interactive, 3D experience, according to the research team at the Royal College of Technology in Stockholm.

"It's an entirely new way of watching football. It will be possible to enter the game virtually, to study the players, rotate them,

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and view and experience the game from new angles," said Stefan Carlsson, professor at the computer science institution at the Royal College of Technology.

Viewers will be able to get a first-person, in-game perspective of being bamboozled by Cristiano Ronaldo's skill, receiving a pass from Cesc Fabregas or being tackled by John Terry. The researchers believe that the technology will make the game as realistic for the TV viewer as for the player on the pitch.

"Viewers have never been able to view a football game in this way up until now. Everything happens in real time, while the game is being played," Carlsson added.

The project is being co-developed with Tracab, a company which specialises in a camera-based system that makes it possible to track players and the ball in real time. This technology has already been used in recent UEFA Champions League matches and during the ongoing Euro 2008 tournament.