From disallowed goals due to phantom penalties (USA-Slovenia) to clear offsides being missed (Mexico-Argentina) to a ball clearing the goal line and not being ruled a score (England-Germany), one of the enduring memories of this World Cup will be refereeing blunders.

coaches and fans so loud and the global replays so persistent,The mistakes have been so humiliating,that even stodgy old FIFA has admitted that sweeping changes to how the game is officiated are coming.

FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke told the BBC in the strongest comments yet from the high-ranking official–“I would say that it is the final World Cup with the current refereeing system,”

He is essentially calling for a complete reexamination of how the game is refereed, a long overdue idea. FIFA is expected to meet in October to discuss the issue.

Valcke said. “The teams and the players are so strong and so fast. The game is different and the referees are older than all the players,”

“The game is so fast, the ball is flying so quickly, we have to help them and we have to do something and that’s why I say it is the last World Cup under the current system.”

FIFA is a stick-in-the-mud organization in part because the popularity of its main event seemingly can’t be slowed. Despite all the frustrations, controversies and hard feelings – Valcke called England’s goal that wasn’t against Germany a “bad day” – it’s estimated that a billion people worldwide will watch the final.

The organization isn’t one to care about outside opinion. In this World Cup alone, it stood up to the governments of France and Nigeria because it felt they were interfering in the operation of the nations’ soccer federations. It knows it has all the power and while that can be good, it also has created a paternalistic arrogance that got the sport into this problem.

The game is played with little outside flair, marketing and “game experience” enhancements that plagued so many modern sports.

With FIFA, they basically play both national anthems, roll out the ball and go. It allows for the purity and simplicity of the game to remain front and center.

Valcke said that the easy stuff – the goal-line mistakes – must be solved. He also wanted a different way to review referee performances, add extra sets of eyes and perhaps empower assistant referees.

Essentially anything and everything is on the table.

It took repeated disasters to wake FIFA up.At last they’re up.