CAF to use Video Assistant Referees at CHAN 2018

by Phumzile Ngcatshe

Wednesday Nov 29, 2017. 12:30

The Confederation of African Football will for the first time use Video Assistant Referees at the 2018 Total African Nations Championship in Morocco.

CAF announced that the usage of the latest technology was signed off by the CAF Referees Committee at its meeting on Monday in Egypt.

The experimentation of the VAR technology will commence from the quarterfinal stage of the tournament scheduled for January 13 to February 4 in Moroccan cities such as Casablanca, Marrakech, Tangiers and Agadir.

In a statement, CAF announced that African referees shortlisted for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and with previous training in VAR, will be called up for the tournament designed for local-based players.

CAF Referees Committee chairman, Suleiman Waberi, emphasised the importance of making collective decisions to improve officiating on the continent.

“Today we are going to make some very important decisions that will be pivotal for the future of refereeing in Africa,” Waberi said.

“We will launch major projects to meet the challenges ahead. The world expects a lot from the new CAF and particularly from this reconstituted Referees Committee to make significant changes to meet the expectations of our clubs and Member Associations to silence the critics of refereeing in Africa and be at par with other Confederations.”

It is also announced that the CAF Refereeing Department will soon be equipped with a video unit and establish a performance rating system for referees.

Furthermore, the committee has also approved the concept of an open day for the media at major CAF competitions (AFCON, CHAN, Women’s AFCON) to acquaint themselves with events in the world of refereeing.