COSAFA Cup referees, including VAR, are being put through their paces ahead of the tournament

Referees who will be taking part in the HOLLYWOODBETS COSAFA Cup 2024 from
June 26-July 7 have been put through their paces in Johannesburg over the last few
days, including match officials who will manage the Video Assistant Referee (VAR)
system.

VAR will be used from the semi-finals onwards in Gqeberha, but also as a training
tool for the whole competition with every match having officials work the system
behind the scenes to better equip themselves for the real thing.

That includes some top match officials on the continent, from the north to the south,
who will take advantage of this excellent opportunity to advance their training in the
system as FIFA and CAF become more reliant on technology.

Match officials who are not up to speed with VAR will be left behind when it comes
to major continental and global events in the future.

The likes of South Africa’s top referee Abongile Tom, recently crowned COSAFA
Men’s Referee of the Year Jerson dos Santos from Angola, and Peter Waweru of
COSAFA Cup guest nation Kenya have all been through VAR training.

There will also be five female referees and assistant referees put through their
paces, including two of the continent’s top officials in Moroccan referee Bouchra
Karboubi and Zambia’s assistant Diana Chikotesha, who was named COSAFA Female
Referee of the Year at the annual awards last month.

Bouchra, Chikotesha and Fatiha Jermoumi (also Morocco) are fine-tuning ahead of
the Olympic Games in Paris that starts next month.

“I will speak boldly about our VAR project as COSAFA,” COSAFA Referees Manager
Felix Tangawarima said. “Now that we have received our equipment from CAF, we
want every Member Association within COSAFA to have VAR-certified referees, so it
does not impact us when it comes to CAF and FIFA appointments.”