1 April 2019 — CAF’s Referees Committee Member and Gabon Football Federation President, Pierre-Alain Mounguengui, applauded SAFA and IFAB for the smooth running of last week’s CAF VAR Workshop which ended on Saturday, 30 March.

This workshop, which kicked off on Tuesday, 26 March saw a successful five days of learning where match officials from 33 different Africa countries got to learn about the VAR system.

Mounguengui added that the success of this workshop would not have been possible if it was not for unwavering commitment of all the parties who were involved.

A total of 21 referees and 23 assistant referees attended this workshop which took place in Kempton Park, Gauteng.

“On behalf of CAF, I would like to thank both IFAB, the South African Football Association and other parties involved for the smooth running of this workshop. Everything went smoothly as we had planned,” Mounguengui said.

The CAF’s Referees Committee Member further stated that it is CAF’s intention to have more of their referees equipped with such skills.

“The CAF Executive Committee decided to have these courses on the continent because we need to be on the same page with other Confederations around the world,” Mounguengui said.

“This technology was used in the previous (2018) FIFA World Cup and our intention is to have more of our African referees equipped with this skill. Acquiring this skill will enable them to serve as referees in major tournaments where this VAR technology is used.”