The Confederation of African Football, CAF yesterday in Niamey, Niger Republic officially approved the use of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations tournament set to take place in Egypt from June 19 to July 21, 2019.
This will be the first time in the history of the AFCON that VAR will be used.
The Video Assistant Referee became famous during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
VAR was also used during the finals of the 2018 Total CAF Champions League between Egyptian giants Al Ahly and Esperance of Tunisia.
It was also applied at the 2018 Total CAF Confederation Cup.
During the 2018 World Cup, a total of 335 incidents were checked by the VAR over the course of the group stage, averaging seven per match. Fourteen calls made by referees were changed or overruled after being reviewed by the VAR.
According to FIFA statistics, the VAR system has had a success rate of 99.3 percent, up from the 95 percent of correct calls by referees without VAR.
