The Ghana Football Association (GFA) is taking steps to apply the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) for its local competitions, Referees Manager Alex Kotey has revealed.
The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) is an assistant referee in association football who reviews decisions made by the head referee with the use of video footage and headset for communication.
Following extensive trialling in a number of major competitions, VAR was first written into the Laws of the Game by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in 2018.
According to the GFA Referees Manager, Ghana is looking to meet FIFA’s directive to implement the technology by end of 2023.
“VAR is coming to Ghana. VAR would come…
“Caf and Fifa organized an online course for instructors in Africa. In fact, we were about 68 – two from Ghana, Emmanuella Aglago and myself.
“Fifa is saying that in the next three years, VAR must go to all Member Associations (MAs).
“And so, MAs must begin to accept this concept and let it become part of our football,” Alex Kotey stated.
“So in the project planning, there are a lot of requirements that Fifa would demand from us. It is just in line with the Club Licensing so there’s nothing much to fear.
“Then after the project planning, there is another requirement where we now have to engage the various stakeholders, that is the referees – they are the main architects of the VAR program.
“…Let me say that Fifa is ready to support. The only thing the Member Association needs to do is to show commitment and the willingness to accept the VAR into our football and when that is done, Fifa and Caf would give you the necessary support that you actually need.
“Though we are going to bring VAR, we actually need to work on our referees. We just want everybody to catch the euphoria that VAR would soon come to Ghana with the support of GFA, Fifa and Caf,” he added.
Morocco was the first African country to apply the VAR technology in its domestic competitions in November 2019. Others like South Africa, Tunisia and Egypt have since followed suit.
