{"id":2956,"date":"2025-05-16T05:37:27","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T08:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/?p=2956"},"modified":"2026-04-19T16:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T19:58:13","slug":"var-finally-confirmed-for-south-african-football-next-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/var-finally-confirmed-for-south-african-football-next-season","title":{"rendered":"VAR finally confirmed for South African football next season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie confirms R90 million secured for long-awaited VAR implementation in the PSL, handing the baton to SAFA for roll-out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">South Africa.- In what could be the biggest game-changer for South African football since the advent of professional leagues, Minister of Sports and Recreation <strong>Gayton McKenzie <\/strong>has confirmed that <strong>Video Assistant Referee (VAR<\/strong>) technology will be rolled out in the <strong>Premier Soccer League (PSL) <\/strong>next season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking in a candid video posted on his X (formerly Twitter) profile, McKenzie announced that the long-overdue introduction of VAR is no longer a pipe dream but a funded and fast-approaching reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPeople are asking me where is the VAR?\u201d said McKenzie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI promised and I said the month of April. I&#8217;ve done it. The money is there, the advert went out. FIFA will tell you, they don&#8217;t want the department to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The lack of VAR has dominated headlines for this year&#8217;s <strong>Betway Premiership <\/strong>season, with fans, <strong>sport bettors,<\/strong> and analysts united in their frustration over controversial refereeing decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many have accused the PSL of dragging its boots, as other leagues across Africa and the globe have already embraced the tech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Where is VAR McKenzie ?\ud83d\udd7a\ud83d\udd7a\ud83d\udd7a\ud83d\udd7a\ud83d\udd7a <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nFzoceGLuc\">pic.twitter.com\/nFzoceGLuc<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Gayton McKenzie (@GaytonMcK) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GaytonMcK\/status\/1922928089933263126?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 15, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">SAFA to roll out implementation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McKenzie revealed that R90 million ($4.8m) has been secured, and the implementation has been handed to the <strong>South African Football Association (SAFA)<\/strong>. He said SuperSport had played a critical role in assisting with testing the technology abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A successful trial in Spain sealed the deal, with McKenzie confirming, &#8220;It works 100%.&#8221; This update flips the frustration script. The money is in the bank. The testing is complete. Now, the ball is squarely in SAFA&#8217;s court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNow we&#8217;re waiting for SAFA to announce the company that will win the tender to do VAR,\u201d said McKenzie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo people, stop asking me where is VAR. I have done what I promised to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the minister&#8217;s job done, all eyes are on SAFA to deliver the final pass. If executed correctly, next season&#8217;s PSL could finally get the assist it needs &#8211; from technology designed to get the calls right, every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>South African football<\/strong> is about to enter a new era. And this time, the camera&#8217;s won&#8217;t miss a thing.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"see-also-container\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label\">See also:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-article\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"related-article__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/04\/sportpesa-kenya-300x200.jpeg\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"related-article__text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label-strong\">See also:<\/span> <a href='https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/south-africa-football-federation-to-introduce-var-in-local-leagues'>South Africa football federation to introduce VAR in local leagues\u00a0<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie confirms R90 million secured for long-awaited VAR implementation in the PSL, handing the baton to SAFA for roll-out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2396,"featured_media":2960,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"South Africa's Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie has confirmed R90 million ($4.8m) has been secured for the long-awaited Video Assistant Referee (VAR) implementation in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) next season. The South African Football Association (SAFA) has been tasked with the roll-out, including the tender process for a VAR provider, following successful trials.","focusai_entities":"Gayton McKenzie, SAFA, PSL, SuperSport, FIFA, Betway Premiership","focusai_location":"South Africa, Spain","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (0.8), operator_casino (0.9), affiliate_publisher (0.7), tech_data (0.8), marketing_crm (0.7), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"VAR Governance Frameworks","query":"What specific governance frameworks and operational protocols will SAFA establish to ensure the integrity, transparency, and consistent application of VAR decisions within the PSL?"},{"label":"VAR Budget Allocation","query":"How will the R90 million capital expenditure be precisely allocated across VAR technology procurement, infrastructure development, official training, and ongoing maintenance for the PSL?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60011,60017],"tags":[78],"class_list":["post-2956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-south-africa","category-sportsbetting-news","tag-sports-betting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2956"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2965,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2956\/revisions\/2965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}