Morocco Debuts VAR in National Soccer Championship with Positive Results

"In at least three matches, the use of VAR has been salvaging and has been able to prevent errors that could have changed the course of the match," Mohamed Lamouajeh, a former referee and currently an arbitration expert, told Assabah.

According to him, the VAR was judiciously used during the match between Renaissance de Berkane and Hassania d’Agadir, which ended in a draw (1-1). He said that this technique allowed the match referee, Karim Sabri, to go back on a foul committed by the Hassania defender, Malik Cissé, and to send him off. Similarly, the VAR led to the expulsion of the Berkane player, Ismail Belmkadem.

However, he noted that the VAR is somewhat limited. The reason is that a foul that could have led to a penalty in favor of Wydad was not whistled during the match between WAC and El Jadida on Saturday. Neither the field referee nor the VAR referee, Redouane Jiyed, went back on Zouhair El Moutaraji’s action. The latter had been pushed in the penalty area at the end of the first half. "The VAR referee must be in full possession of his means and 100% focused," the expert insisted.