LONDON:Fitter, stronger and quicker: that's what Tottenham Hotspur manager Juande Ramos wanted for his players when he took over the managerial reins last year.

The team's recent victory in the League Cup Final justified his approach. But what if the manager didn't have to impose dietary and training regimes to achieve those results? What if the footballers' bodies were able to be genetically modified to perform at their peak?

This is one of the predictions from the Orange Future of Football Report 2008. While the game has been slow to embrace technology such as goal line machinery to help the officials' decision-making processes, that could be about to change.

What if the officials were themselves pieces of technology, such as robots? The report stated that android referees could be on the horizon... which would take much of the vitriol out of the timeless chant "Who's your father, referee?"

Will, however, pushing the tech envelope not just make everything a bit too clinical? "There has to be a human element, otherwise things would be far too anal," Tom Savigar, the director of the Future Laboratory, which produced the report, said.

GPS might also find a use on the football field. Imagine players with the tracking technology embedded into their shin pads... referees could then ascertain the degree of contact in tackles and spot cheating by divers. Drogba, watch out!

What of the aforementioned genetically modified player? According to sports consultant Dave Reddin, enhancement through gene therapy is almost inevitable. "Our bodies have a buffer zone we operate within, but you hear of superhuman efforts in extraordinary circumstances. There is untapped potential in the human body."

So, rather than gambling millions on transfers, perhaps Señor Ramos will invest in genetics in a bid to produce the best players.

While physical and psychological assessments of players are now common, in the future genetic profiling will assess athletic potential. "Beyond the next 20 years, we could even see the concept of breeding athletes," Reddin said. So, it seems, some players will be born to win.