The first time the Africa Cup of Nations uses VAR technology

DBasia.news – The match between hosts, Cameroon, and Burkina Faso at the Stade Omnisport Paul Biya, Sunday (09/01) at 23.00 WIB will open the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations which was postponed twice.

The drama from being postponed again due to the corona virus variant, Omicron, to the reluctance of European clubs to release their best players to the Africa Cup of Nations had embellished the drama before the tournament started.

The tournament is still starting and will fill the excitement of world football in early 2022. Apart from that, there are also other interesting occurance that broke the history of the tournament. This is the application of VAR (Video Assistant Referee) which covers all 52 African Cup of Nations matches.

Previously, the Africa Cup of Nations had implemented VAR, but not in all matches but from the quarter-finals to the final at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.

“For the first time in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations, all 52 competition matches will use the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in Cameroon starting this weekend,” CAF said in a statement.

“Previously, CAF had used VAR starting from the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations, Egypt 2019. However, with CAF advancing with plans not only to improve the image of referees but also to produce world-class match officials in Africa, implementing VAR in all 52 matches in Cameroon was a step forward in the right direction.”

CAF has selected 24 referees, 34 assistant referees and 8 video assistant referees from 36 countries for the tournament in Cameroon. Salima Mukansanga, a referee from Rwanda is also one of the four female referees who will be on duty.

Two referees from North and Central America and Caribbean football (Concacaf), Mario Escobar (a referee from Guatemala), and a VAR referee from Mexico Fernando Guerrero were also involved as part of the skill exchange program between the federations.

The winner of the Africa Cup of Nations will receive prize money of US$5 million, an increase from US$500,000 in 2019. While the runner-up will receive US$2.75 million.