CAF VAR Branding during 2025 Africa Cup of Nations match between Senegal and Botswana on the 23 December 2025 at Grand Stadium Tangier ©Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix
They always say that if you are going to win a tournament like the Africa Cup of Nations, you need a bit of luck along the way.
Luck on Egypt’s side with VAR at AFCON
It is certainly fair to say that Egypt had their share of fortune and Bafana didn’t in the Pharaohs’ 1-0 Group B win over South Africa on Boxing Day.
ALSO READ: Mudau – ‘We just have to focus on the next one’
At the last Africa Cup of Nations finals, the standard of Video Assistant Refereeing (VAR) set an extremely high standard that even the richest leagues in Europe battle to match.
The Confederation of African Football, however, sacked their director of refereeing Doue Noumandiez in August.
If this AFCON in Morocco is anything to go by, that was the wrong decision as VAR has come under criticism left, right and centre.
In the Bafana-Egypt game it was a tale of two penalties, one awarded to Egypt, and one not awarded to Bafana. Khuliso Mudau did catch Mohamed Salah with a stray hand to the face, but with his back to the player it was surely accidental.
Then, as the clock ticked down in Agadir, referee Pacifique Ndabihawenimana awarded a free kick to Bafana on the edge of the box for a handball by Egypt defender Yasser Ahmed.
Replays showed that the ball had struck Ahmed’s outstretched arm inside the area. VAR called the referee to the monitor. But just when it seemed Bafana were going to get a spot kick, the referee waved play on with a drop ball.
The reasoning for this is that Ahmed’s arm was down on the ground in a natural position.
Former South African referee Jerome Damon backed both decisions on social media. But for me, both of these decisions are open to interpretation.
Grey areas
Was Ahmed not deliberately extending his body by sliding? My main disagreement is that in both cases, the referee went the other way, deeming the first no foul on Salah, and the second a handball.
VAR is surely mainly there to correct clear and obvious errors. In neither case were either of these incidents clear and obvious. The only clear error is that Ahmed’s handball was inside the box. And Bafana should have had a penalty.
Too much controversy
And this has not been the only game marred by VAR controversy. Mali coach Tom Saintfiet was furious after their clash with Morocco that the Atlas Lions were awarded a penalty for handball and Mali were not.
And Benin coach Gernot Rohr hit out at CAF after a VAR malfunction in their game against DR Congo saw them not get a penalty for handball.
And there was also controversy in the Tunisia-Nigeria game on Saturday night as the Carthage Eagles were awarded a penalty after the ball struck Nigeria’s Samuel Osayi-Bright on the arm in a very debatably ‘unnatural’ position.
ALSO READ: Bafana’s Broos blasts ‘ridiculous’ penalty call
There have simply been too many controversies just a week into this tournament for it not to be clear that the refereeing is not up to standard. It will be a shame if VAR ends up spoiling the continent’s greatest footballing spectacle.
About the Author
