FIFA To Develop Less Expensive Version Of VAR In Ghana – GFA General Secretary2 min read
The world governing football body FIFA is set to develop a less expensive version of Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
According to the General Secretary of the GFA, Prosper Harrison Addo, the current VAR technology approved by the world’s football governing body is expensive.
He added that FIFA President Gianni Infantino pledged to provide a less expensive version of VAR for countries like Ghana to be able to use the technology in competitions.
GFA counting on FIFA to develop less expensive version of VAR
“It is not true that FIFA has written to us about VAR. We were on a project to do VAR, but the VAR that is approved by FIFA is very expensive,” Addo told Accra-based Angel FM, as quoted by 3news.
“It is not just about bringing the machine, but you will train people, train referees, and the setup is heavy and expensive. So, at the last congress in Rwanda, the FIFA President himself said that FIFA is going to develop another version that will be less expensive.
Prosper Harrison Addo
“We are on that project with FIFA, and they haven’t written to us that we should do live matches at all centres.”
This comes after the Referees Manager of the GFA said VAR could be introduced in Ghana football in the 2023/24 season.
Alex Kotey explained in September last year that the delay in implementing the VAR system was due to funding and FIFA introducing a different technology for African countries.
He noted that Ghana was the only country from the WAFU Zone B to have started the VAR project since it was approved for use by FIFA.
“For me, I’m saying that, give and take, by 2023 we should see VAR in Ghana,” Alex Kotey said in an interview with Joy Sports.
VAR was used in Ghana for the first time during the 2022 FIFA World Cup playoff first-leg game against Nigeria in Kumasi.
However, the Ghana Premier League and other competitions are yet to have a taste of the technology despite the GFA’s insistence that VAR will soon be used in the domestic league.
