With barely two months to the start of the Total African Nations Championship Cameroon 2020, referees and assistant referees took part in a preparatory course from 4-8 February 2020 in Cairo, Egypt.
Twenty-two (22) referees and 20 assistant referees gathered in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, for the four-day intensive training program to fine-tune for the sixth edition of the tournament designed exclusively for footballers playing in their domestic leagues. A blend of youth and experience, the training program primarily focused on Video Assistant Referees (VAR), which will be applied at the quarter-final stage of the competition. It will be the first time in the history of the tournament that VAR will be used following successful mock tests during the previous edition in 2018 in Morocco.
Under the supervision of CAF Refereeing Director, Eddy Maillet and a team of experienced instructors including Jerome Damon (South Africa), Doue Noumandiez Desire (Cote d’Ivoire), Lim Kee Chong (Mauritius), Essam Abdel Fattah (Egypt), Mademba Mbacke and Mohamed Houssein Ali (Djibouti), the participants were taken through simulatory exercises to have a practical feel of the system which involves the use of technology. "The CHAN is a very important tournament and it is therefore important to have the referees in the best of conditions to give off their best. It is important that we have such a training course to give more experience to the referees regarding the usage of VAR,” Maillet said. “After the course and having observed the participants, we will draw up the final list of referees for the tournament.”
There were also theoretical sessions which centred on areas such as preparation for games, reading of the game amongst others critical to the decision making process in a game. The participant also took part in fitness exercise to check their physical preparedness for the competition.
