Qatar 2022: VAR to be used in Africa’s World Cup play-offs to avert referee mistakes

FIFA President Gianni Infantino made this known during the 13th Extraordinary General Assembly meeting in Cairo last week.

Ten (10) teams have qualified for the play-offs of the World Cup qualifiers, with five set to make it to next year’s tournament in Qatar.

The qualified teams are Algeria, Tunisia, Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo, Mali, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal and Morocco.

“The final stage of the African World Cup qualifiers will see an improvement in refereeing performance due to the use of VAR,” Infantino said.

“We have implemented VAR to help the referees because it is so difficult to be a referee. And it's our responsibility to put the refs in the right conditions to perform at their best."

Refereeing on the continent has come under the spotlight after a controversial penalty was awarded during a qualifier between Ghana and South Africa earlier this month.

The Black Stars booked their place in the play-off round following a narrow 1-0 victory over Bafana Bafana at the Cape Coast stadium.

Andre Ayew was the match-winner after expertly converting a first-half penalty after Daniel Amartey was fouled in the box.

The decision to award the penalty has, however, divided opinions, with many South Africans accusing the referee of cheating them.

Meanwhile, the South African FA has since filed a complaint against the match officials at FIFA, although the world’s football governing body is yet to bring out its verdict.