Ghana targeting VAR first in West Africa

Ghana is hoping to become the first West African nation to launch the use of Video Assistant Referees (VAR).

The revelation was made by the nation's football association (GFA) general secretary Prosper Harrison Addo.

In September, Ghana announced it had begun steps towards the adoption of the technology in domestic football, particularly in the Premier League (GPL).

"Ghana football will soon witness the invention of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to help boost our games,” said Addo, as reported by Kickgh.

"The European countries have started using VAR and it’s helping the football games on the field in on-the-field decisions and other incidents on the field. Some African countries have started such as Morroco, Egypt and in some cases South Africa.

"Ghana will soon become the first West African country to use VAR in our games after consultations, negotiation and preparations are done. Everyone will see the implementation of VAR in Ghana."

VAR reviews decisions made by the centre referee by the use of video footage and communication headsets.

"VAR is coming to Ghana, but there is a lot of work that we need to do to ensure that VAR comes to this country," GFA referees manager Alex Kotey said in an interview with GFA News.

"Fifa is saying that, by the next three years, VAR must go to all member VAR: Ghana initiates steps towards technology adoption in domestic football associations and so member associations must begin to accept this concept and let it become part of our football.

"So, in the project planning, there are so many requirements that Fifa will demand from us which is in line with the club licensing regulations and so there’s nothing to fear. After the project planning, there’s another requirement where you have to engage the various stakeholders, like referees who are the main actors of this program.

"The VAR is in three models, that’s, VAR in a structure, VAR in a container and VAR in a mobile van. For me, I’ll be biased and go for the van, and that is because it is movable so that anywhere StarTimes is covering a match, the VAR will be there to make their work very simple.

"When that is done, Fifa and Caf will give us all the necessary support that we need to actualize the project. Though we are going to bring VAR, we need to work on our referees because VAR is an aid to officiating and so referees should not be dependent on the VAR.

"We want everyone to catch the euphoria that VAR will soon come to Ghana with the support of the Ghana Football Association, Caf and Fifa."

The technology was first written into the Laws of the Game by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in 2018.