Chan event now in limbo

Less than four months before the tournament is due to kick off, Caf have left their Chan tournament homeless after stripping Kenya of the right to stage the event.

The reason given after Caf officials staged an investigation of the stadiums earmarked to stage Chan games and other related facilities was that these were inadequate – with South Africa initially mooted as possible hosts.

However, after apparently initially being interested to take a step that would have regained for South Africa a place in the event after being eliminated by Zambia in the qualifying rounds, Safa have moved in a more rational direction and rejected to undertake the race against time and heaping tricky organisational problems on the domestic programme.

One official likened the decision to turning down a dance with a vivacious blonde of questionable morals, but conceding the prospect had been tempting.

Now, it appears, Caf have turned to Morocco as potential Chan hosts, with the North African country who are bidding to stage the 2026 World Cup of the view it could enhance their prospects as a promotional enterprise.

Many, however, have questioned whether Chan is, in fact, a viable proposition on an over-crowded international programme that includes the World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations and their varied qualifying segments.

With Chan and its qualifiers added, African countries are faced with the prospect of competing in 10 separate tournament segments, so to speak, during a four-year period – as against the four for countries in Europe, with the World Cup and Euros each staged every four years.

Fifa does not recognise Chan as an official tournament and this causes additional problems in ensuring the release of top players, with selections already handicapped by the rule limiting the event to home-based players.