The TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023 has enjoyed some exceptional officiating.
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Accredited journalists of the ongoing TotalEnergies CAF AFCON Cote D’ivoire 2023 had the unique experience of viewing the referees’ training session and interact with them on Thursday, 25 January at the Aces Mimosas Training Centre in Abidjan.
The session afforded media the opportuniTotalEnergies CAFty to understand the intricacies that go into preparation for a match for the refereeing team, including at VAT level.
“They were able to see that the decisions are very precise and very correct. We have made a lot of progress in terms of video refereeing and for the moment, we continue to work hard. We put the referees in a game situation, whether referees on the field and the VARs to repeat the procedures, repeat the ways of analyzing and have uniformity in how the officiate”, said Noumandiez Désiré Doué, Director of Refereeing and Football Technology at CAF.
The opportunity also allowed CAF refereeing officials to take stock of the referees’ performances after the group stages of the competition.
“We are satisfied with the performance of the referees so far. We work to improve what needs to be improved and perfect what is not yet perfect. Repetition corrects errors and that is what we are striving to do,” said Hugues Alain Adjovi, president of the CAF Referees Commission.
The Open Day with referees, assistant referees and Video Assistant Referees is an activity traditionally organized by the Communication Department of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) at each major CAF competition. It gives the media the opportunity to immerse themselves and understand the work of these officials whose role is both sensitive and decisive for the image of the competition.
“It’s an opportunity to show everyone what we do, how we train, how we prepare before officiating on the pitch,” concluded Doué.
