The African Champions League final was abandoned due to a row over the Video Assisted Referee (VAR) system.

Play was halted for over an hour after Wydad Casablanca refused to play when VAR was unavailable to judge a disallowed equaliser.

VAR had been set up on the side of the pitch, but the players had not been told it was not working, although officials were aware.

The referee then awarded the victory to three-time former champions Esperance.

The Tunisian side were leading 1-0 (2-1 on aggregate) in Saturday's final, which was played over two legs. VAR had been used in last week's first leg.

But in the second leg, Walid El Karti's header for Wydad was disallowed for an infringement.

Wydad players protested to the Gambian referee, demanding VAR be used, and Confederation of African Football (Caf) president Ahmad Ahmad spent almost 30 minutes in discussions with officials in a bid to get the game restarted.

The 60,000 spectators inside the stadium waited for an update for 95 minutes, before the referee awarded the victory to the home team, who retained the title.

In a statement, Caf confirmed it will hold a meeting of their executive committee on Tuesday to discuss the incident.

It is the first time in the 55-year history of the elite African club competition that a match in the home-and-away final series has not been completed.

Last week's first leg in Morocco saw Caf hand Egyptian referee Gehad Grisha a six-month ban after complaints from the Moroccans.

Esperance were unbeaten all season, equalling the achievement of the 1994 squad, becoming the first club to win the competition twice without losing a match.

Wydad could now face a two-year ban from competing in continental club competition.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48483152

Is it a must to use VAR?

Why do things like this always happen first in Africa? Is it lack of maintenance or inadequate control room personnels.
Before starting the game the VAR should have been tested and when you discover the VAR has problems, let the teams know if they can play without VAR, if they both agree then the match can start.

Lack of match planning was the cause of this problem.

I remember the provocative lyrics in Femi kuti 's Sorry Sorry , where he said " with this crop of leaders Africa no get hope " a lot of people insulted this man for that statement , but deep down we know that is the valid truth....
Just imagine a final match been cancelled for what reason
If the VAR didn't work ( which should have worked if not for bad management , lack of preparation and mismanagement of funds ) why not let the referees make decision like it has always been , or if we know we lack the full ability to use the VAR , why test run it in a final game, Wydad Casablanca had every right to walk out of a final game cos the system is faulty ...when there are holes in the walls , rats must enter !
We like to copy the foreign mentality , and it has so far been to our detriment ....
The European countries are having a good laugh at us everyday , and they should ,cos we cracked the joke , and we'll keep cracking more except we have sensible leaders and a well organized setting !

VAR av vexed niyen... Let them use ALUPAYIDA naa ,!!!

We are still living in Stone Age. na by force to copy Oyinbo?

Since when mod
Africa and controversy na 5 & 6

Was already on FP some days back.

The referee wanted to just cheat.

Useless people

Afriicccaaaa!!!!!!

NAWA SINCE WHEN ABOUT 3 DAYS AGO NOW
NA NOW U DEY KNOW ABI

.

Nepa strike, dem don manipulate the system or nah ABAKALIKI made.Nah development

thesicilian:
Is it a must to use VAR?

Abi oh Maybe we no dey play ball B4 VAR com to life

ogbiwa:
The African Champions League final was abandoned due to a row over the Video Assisted Referee (VAR) system.

Play was halted for over an hour after Wydad Casablanca refused to play when VAR was unavailable to judge a disallowed equaliser.

VAR had been set up on the side of the pitch, but the players had not been told it was not working, although officials were aware.

The referee then awarded the victory to three-time former champions Esperance.

The Tunisian side were leading 1-0 (2-1 on aggregate) in Saturday's final, which was played over two legs. VAR had been used in last week's first leg.

But in the second leg, Walid El Karti's header for Wydad was disallowed for an infringement.

Wydad players protested to the Gambian referee, demanding VAR be used, and Confederation of African Football (Caf) president Ahmad Ahmad spent almost 30 minutes in discussions with officials in a bid to get the game restarted.

The 60,000 spectators inside the stadium waited for an update for 95 minutes, before the referee awarded the victory to the home team, who retained the title.

In a statement, Caf confirmed it will hold a meeting of their executive committee on Tuesday to discuss the incident.

It is the first time in the 55-year history of the elite African club competition that a match in the home-and-away final series has not been completed.

Last week's first leg in Morocco saw Caf hand Egyptian referee Gehad Grisha a six-month ban after complaints from the Moroccans.

Esperance were unbeaten all season, equalling the achievement of the 1994 squad, becoming the first club to win the competition twice without losing a match.

Wydad could now face a two-year ban from competing in continental club competition.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48483152

Just Negodu!.......var was setup but was not functioning, Africa my Africa.

Africa my Africa I hail una oooo

I salute Africa stupidity

A for Apple




S for shithole in

Village people affects VAR?

Wow....The gods must be angry.

Big shame to African football

Y

Even match we stream on YouTube sef, we can see d replay there.was the match not televised.. simple replay on SuperSport could have been used

Detoxing tea
Detox juice
All na scam

Your kidneys and liver do that already
"But I went to toilet after taking it"

You're just purging, you're not detoxing nada

If you want to help your health

Drink lots of water
Make sure there's fibre in your diet
Reduce sugars
Take fruits

[/b]THIS IS AN OLD NEWS NA [b]
NAIRALAND UNA NO TRY O.

Jayslicky:
Why do things like this always happen first in Africa? Is it lack of maintenance or inadequate control room personnels.
Before starting the game the VAR should have been tested and when you discover the VAR has problems, let the teams know if they can play without VAR, if they both agree then the match can start.

Lack of match planning was the cause of this problem.

this is just like the case of INEC and their server

This happened over 5 days ago. How is this news?

thesicilian:
Is it a must to use VAR?

Nope. But apparently it's been used during the same tournament and the protesting team had a goal disallowed. Make dem VAR this goal na.

omonla10:
Even match we stream on YouTube sef, we can see d replay there.was the match not televised.. simple replay on SuperSport could have been used

I agree with u totally