The Confederation of African Football (CAF) successfully concluded the second CAF VAR Academy workshop in Johannesburg this week.
This marks a significant step in CAF’s ongoing efforts to enhance refereeing standards across the continent through the effective use of technology.
Following the successful implementation of VAR at the recent TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations, CAF is further strengthening its commitment to referee development by providing advanced training to officials.
The CAF VAR Academy, which is being rolled out across Africa between September and October 2024, aims to equip referees with the necessary skills to utilize VAR technology effectively.
The workshop in Johannesburg, which focused on the COSAFA zone, brought together 14 elite referees for a week-long course.
Participants were trained in both the theoretical and practical aspects of VAR, utilizing state-of-the-art equipment.
CAF Technical Development Director, Raul Chipenda, emphasized the importance of such programs in developing referees who are capable of officiating matches with VAR.
“To allow a referee to officiate a match with VAR, they need a certain number of hours of training,” Chipenda stated.
“With this equipment in the zones and through our partnerships, we will be better positioned to train our referees and help them officiate more matches with VAR.”
Chipenda further highlighted the significance of the program in increasing the number of qualified referees both on the continent and globally.
“Having such programs play a vital role in our objective of increasing the number of qualified VAR-qualified referees,” he concluded.
The next workshop in the CAF VAR Academy series will take place in Egypt from September 22 to 27. This workshop will focus on the UNAF zone and will provide training to elite referees from the region.
It will then shift focus to the CECAFA Zone starting September 30th and this will be hosted in Tanzania.
