Goalline technology is firmly back on the agenda at Fifa and could be approved within weeks. Digger can reveal that 13 companies will make their pitches to Fifa at its headquarters in Zurich next week.

There are certain basic criteria the companies must meet: namely, to be 100% accurate, situated on the goalline and to relay automatically back to the referee and assistants the result within one second. Tests will take place from 7 to 13 February, with results referred to the International Football Association Board meeting at Celtic Manor in south Wales on 5 March.

If the IFAB approves any or all of the proposals, technology will ultimately be incorporated into the football laws, although the practicalities, such as which level of the game to introduce it at, will require further work. Among those in the running are Hawk-Eye and Cairos, who have both delivered presentations to Fifa officials in the past. Joining them are the UK company Goalminder, which will be competing with the Austrian electronics firm Abatec and the major Swiss watch companies Tag Heuer and Longines.

Goalminder's advantage over others is that its cameras, sited in the goalposts, can also take high-definition quality pictures for instant delivery to broadcasters. That would have been of great value during England's World Cup second-round defeat to Germany, when Frank Lampard's lob crossed the line unseen by the officials.

Uefa's president, Michel Platini, who sits on the IFAB, favours the use of two additional officials behind the goallines.

Mancini's reality check

Roberto Mancini takes the world's richest club to Notts County on Sunday knowing that had events turned out differently the home dugout at Meadow Lane might have been his. In 2009 Mancini held advanced talks with Sven-Goran Eriksson, Notts County's then director of football, about joining him. It was at the height of the ridiculous Qadbak-Munto Finance saga at County, when many believed the club to be supported by Middle Eastern or Pakistani billions. Mancini was even believed to have accepted the approach, until Eriksson realised all was not as it seemed at County and talked the Italian out of it.

Bates pushes for funding

Austerity Britain has somewhat reduced the resources available to councils but Leeds United will still press their local authority for funding to expand Elland Road to 50,000 seats. The club had in place an agreement in principle for loan finance towards the construction project, which is due to have an ancillary hotel development, provided England won the right to host the 2018 World Cup. England 2018 failed but Leeds – whose chairman, Ken Bates, is a Monaco tax exile – hope the loans will be available anyway. The club stressed to Digger the regeneration benefits of the project. The council would say only that it is "currently considering that proposal" from Leeds and will "respond in due course".

Soccerettes go missing

Sky's 20th anniversary was launched with a 30-second advert containing sporting legends such as Frank Bruno, Roger Federer and Jonny Wilkinson, as well as Andy Gray and Richard Keys. The ad is not likely to be seen again and there are signs of other airbrushing. Unlike Keys's "banter", something at Sky that really was born of the 1990s' lads-mag culture is Soccer AM, which has drawn fans' scrutiny this week. Its football kit-clad Soccerettes have been integral to Sky Sports for years. Not so in the wake of the sexism row. Where once a Soccerettes feature was prominent on the Sky Sports website homepage, even a search for the word Soccerette returns nothing current. Has the recent furore led Sky to reconstruct Soccer AM? Sky would not say, although it is rather busy.