SAFA Head of Referees, Abdul Ebrahim has confirmed the Video Assistant Referee will “probably not” ready to be rolled out at the start of the 2026/27 Betway Premiership season.
The previous update on VAR came from the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie who had confirmed the funds were provided from the government and sent over to SAFA, with the intention to roll it out this coming campaign.
However, Ebrahim now confirmed that his department are still waiting for the “approval from leadership”.
“With regards to VAR, as was mentioned previously we have received everybody’s will, we’ve received the funding from the government with regards to that,” he told SABC Sport.
“And discussions are on the way as far as the next steps are concerned. We have to get approval from the leadership, which is the national executive committee.
“Once that approval is received we can commence with our training sessions.”
When asked whether VAR will be ready for the start of the upcoming campaign, Ebrahim confirmed that he doesn’t think so.
“For 26/27 probably not [ready]. If things go well we could see VAR being introduced in the latter stages of the season,” he added.
“But obviously we have a VAR project team in place. Once they are ready to do their media brief, they will be able to provide much more information as to what the next steps are, how long the next steps are going to take and obviously when the full integration of VAR will be in our leagues.”