Kurt Okraku: We’ll introduce VAR in Ghana football

The president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has promised to introduce Video Assistant Referees (VAR) in the country’s football.

Addressing the media in Sunyani, Kurt Okraku said the FA is aiming to improve refereeing in the country and will, therefore, be rolling out some strategies.

He noted that the implementation of the VAR technology was likely to begin in the Ghana Premier League.

“We are going to introduce VAR into our football. Whatever we will do to introduce VAR into football, we will, as part of our overall strategy for improving refereeing starting from our GPL, we will. It’s coming,” Okraku said.

VAR was used in Ghana for the first time during the 2022 FIFA World Cup playoff first-leg game between the Black Stars and Nigeria in Kumasi.

VAR has been used in Ghana just once

However, the Ghana Premier League is yet to have a taste of the technology despite the GFA’s insistence that the technology will soon be used in the domestic league.

In 2021, the Ghana FA announced that FIFA had approved the Project Team for the implementation of VAR in Ghana.

Last year, the General Secretary of the GFA, Prosper Harrison Addo, also admitted that the current VAR technology approved by FIFA was too expensive.

He said FIFA President Gianni Infantino had pledged to provide a less expensive version of VAR for countries like Ghana to be able to use the technology in competitions.

The latest pronouncements by GFA President Kurt Okraku, however, affirm the football body’s plans to have VAR in Ghana football.

There is still no timeline, though, on when exactly the technology will be implemented.

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