Tag: NPFL

Officiating in Nigeria domestic leagues has become an issue affecting the development of the game in Nigeria, with several cases of poor officiating being traced to match officials. Perhaps the issue of poor officiating in the NPFL would have been minimal if the VAR system was on the ground. The 2022/2023 Nigeria Professional Football League season, which has reached match week 4, has already started feeling the heat of poor officiating, as three match officials have been suspended for poor officiating. Video of the goal scored by Niger Tornadoes against defending champions Rivers United in Port Harcourt, which was eventually disallowed by centre referee Faro Abdulrahman in match week 3, has gone viral, with critics calling for the head of the referee and all insisting that it was a goal. Perhaps, if VAR were to be present, consultation would have been made to either justify the referee’s decision or make him review his decision. But in the absence of VAR, the voices of fans called and he is now facing disciplinary measures as at the time of this report. WHY WAS VAR INTRODUCED BY FIFA? Basically, the World governing football body FIFA, who introduced the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) into football in 2016, wants to reduce the focus on referees and limit the impact that contentious decisions would have on the outcome of a game. With the introduction of VAR, FIFA agrees with the fact that humans (referees) could commit errors in judgment. But with the aid of the VAR system, they could rescind their decision and make a different decision from the first one, which could exonerate them from error and still be in the best interest of the game. VAR IN AFRICA FOOTBALL Since its introduction, VAR has made its presence in three domestic leagues of African countries, which are Morocco, South Africa and Egypt, while the giant of Africa, Nigeria, is conspicuously missing from the list of countries having the VAR system. A publication by the Ghana Football Association two years ago titled Process For Implementation of VAR Begins, stated the willingness of the Ghana FA to put the process of VAR in place in her domestic league and the publication further added that FIFA is saying that “By next three years, VAR must go to all member associations and so all members associations must begin to accept this concept and let it become part of our football”. More so, the continental football ruling body CAF have followed suit, introducing the VAR system into continental tournaments. VAR was first used in the African Cup of Nations during the quarterfinals of the Egypt 2019 edition. Subsequently, all matches in the AFCON 2021 hosted by Cameroon had VAR in place, confirming that the VAR system has come to stay in African football. WHY IS VAR NOT IN NIGERIA FOOTBALL?  The absence of VAR in Nigeria's domestic league, is still a source of worry to many. As at 2022, when the NFF had a budget of N1,256,758,296 from the Sports Ministry, it was used on overhead costs and capital projects. Aside from the subvention gotten from the Ministry of Sports, the NFF have consistently gotten funds from FIFA, CAF and private partners, but there are no reports anywhere indicating that there is a plan for VAR in any of those funds. Efforts made by this writer to get the view of the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Alh. Ibrahim Gusau has been unsuccessful, as he is yet to respond to messages sent to him even though it is confirmed that he has read them. However, the installation of a VAR system in a stadium is estimated at U.S $6.2 million (about N2.9Billion), which leaves Nigeria Football in a situation of seeking about N30 Billion if 10 VAR systems need to be installed in 10 stadiums. VAR would definitely give credibility to the NPFL if installed, and the Interim Management Committee who have till the end of the 2022/2023 abridged season necessarily have to make conscious effort to include the VAR system as part of recommendations before handing over to enable the NFF, look critically into issues affecting VAR and begin to plan for it.