The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has named Frenchman Benoit Millot as the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) for Wednesday’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) quarter final clash between Nigeria and South Africa.
VAR will be making its debut at Africa’s flagship football competition starting from Wednesday and it appears that the continent’s football governing body are not taking chances by naming the 36-year old French referee as the head of the 3-man VAR panel.
Millot will be assisted in the VAR room by top African referee Janny Sikazwe from Zambia as well as Senegalese Hadji Malik Samba in the second ever Africa Cup of Nations game to have the use of VAR.
While Millot will be observing the meticulous details in the “upper room”, Moroccan centre referee Redouane Jiyed will be in charge of proceedings at the centre, assisted by compatriots Lahcen Azgaou and Mustapha Akarkad.
Jiyed will be taking charge of his third game in this year’s competition after he directed the Group A game between Uganda and Congo Democratic Republic at the Cairo International Stadium and the Group F clash between Angola and Mali in Ismailia last Tuesday.
Wednesday’s game will kick off at 9:00PM local time (8:00PM in Nigeria) at the 75,000 capacity Cairo International Stadium in the heart of the Egyptian capital.
Fisayo Dairo reporting from Cairo
