The Confederation of African football CAF, has reportedly informed all the 24 Nations to take part at the 2021 African Cup of Nations that, the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), will be used throughout the competition.
The pan_African football jamboree will be stage in Cameroon from January 09 to February 06, 2021. 24 Nations have qualified for the tournament, and have been paired in six groups of four each.
CAF has informed all the participating teams at the 2021 African Cup of Nations that the VAR will be used all throughout the tournament in Cameroon.
Six main stadia have been earmarked to host games during the tournament, notably amongst which are the Olembe Stadium that will host the opening and closing events, the 50,000 capacity Japoma stadium in Douala, the Yaoundé Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium, the Omnisport Stadium in Bafoussam, the Limbe Omnisport Stadium in Ngeme, and the Roumde Adja stadium in Garoua.
These six play grounds are already equipped with the Video Assistant Referee system, which have already been put to used during the African Nation’s Championship, CHAN, that took place in Cameroon this year.
Initially, VAR has been used mostly in the knockout phase of CAF competitions. The new reforms from CAF means that throughout the 52 games that will be played at AFCON 2021 in Cameroon, match officials will be able to limit some errors, and make the right calls when necessary.
Football pundits have welcomed the initiative from CAF, with the believe that it can take the game of football in the continent, to another level.
“Recently CAF has organized a lot of seminars on VAR. It is true that VAR is expensive to use in the African continent because of the Royalties to pay to the companies which are running VAR, but I think it is a look towards the future. Next year we have the world cup coming up and I think African countries not complain that not many African referees were chosen.
It is a move by CAF to encourage African referees to get into technology and also to encourage the host nation to be able to implement VAR in all it’s stadia,” Kenneth Ihezue, a sports technology expert revealed.
Less than 70 days to the second ever 24 Nations AFCON, Cameroon is looking set for the event, which is expected to one of a kind in the continent.
