Victor Hlungwani applauds progress on VAR rollout in SA football

SABC Sport travelled to Spain at the weekend, alongside SAFA’s project lead Daniel Bennet and Sports Ministry senior advisor Charles Cilliers, to assess the system offered by provider Quality Media. 

Bennet is expected to present his findings before the parliamentary portfolio committee today, and Hlungwani believes a centralised VAR model would be most effective. 

"It's good progress that they are starting to move, especially getting the license from FIFA, who must grant us permission, so going to Spain to learn how its done will also give them more information on how to implement it in the country," said Hlungwani.

"Because remember we have three different types – centralised, VAR lite and full VAR, so news I'm hearing is that we're going centralised, which will require less man power.

"But then it will require a big room because if two or three games are playing at the same time, you need to have a lot of screens for all those appointed officials to manage VAR and communicate with the team at the stadium, but it's good progress."

READ: SAFA opts for full VAR system over VAR Lite

There’s also talk that VAR could be trialled in this season’s Nedbank Cup semifinals, with Hlungwani concerned about officials needing training, but says a one-off test shouldn’t be an issue. 

"Not all [officials] will have accumulated hours because for VAR, you qualify by having [practical] hours, just like a pilot, but we have quite a number of referees in the country who are accredited," he noted.

"Akhona Makalima, Abongile Tom, Zakhele Siwela, recently Jelly Chavani has been trained, and Kgara Mokoena are training at COSAFA.

"So if you look at the cup final, you just need four people who are trained, and most of our international referees have been trained, so it's doable for the Nedbank Cup final."