CAF ANNOUNCE CHAN DATES
THE Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced that the African Nations Championship tournament which was postponed earlier this year will kick off on January 16 with the final set for February 7, 2021.
The African football governing body made the announcement on Thursday, after an Executive Committee meeting, thereby alerting the 16 nations involved in the competition t o resume preparations just over three months away from the start of the competition.
CAF said the sixth edition of the CHAN tournament, which was initially scheduled for April 4-25, 2020 and postponed due to the Covid-19 will kick-off on January 16 with hosts Cameroon facing Zimbabwe.
CAF said the tournament which features players who play for their domestic league will have in effect the fourth substitution rule in the event of extra time at the knockout stages of the competition.
CAF also noted that the 2022 CHAN tournament in Algeria has been rescheduled to January 2023, and the exact dates will be discussed with the Algerian Football Federation.
CAF has also rescheduled dates for the 2021 Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations Morocco to March 13 – 31, 2021 following a request by the
Moroccan Football Federation. “An amendment to the MRI test regulations was approved so as to disqualify any team that has even one ineligible player,” read part of the decisions made by the Executive Committee.
Zambia who finished third in 2009 and have been quarter-finalists in the other two editions will compete in group D with Guinea who finished fourth in 2014 and will be making their third appearance in the tournament in Cameroon.
The Chipolopolo will also face Namibia and Tanzania who will be making a second appearance at the CHAN after they took part in the maiden edition in 2009 where they were eliminated at the group stage.
The 16 national teams which qualified for the tournament will converge in the land of the Indomitable Lions to try to dethrone champions
Morocco.
Meanwhile, CAF has opened the process of launching bids for junior competitions, the women’s competitions, CAF Champions League and Beach Soccer Africa Cup.
CAF also noted that the CAF Women’s Champions League will feature eight teams from Six CAF Zones which will organise qualifiers to determine the finalists for the eight team tournament, who will include the host and the best losing team.
“For the maiden edition, the zonal union of the host country will have two representatives. However, for subsequent editions, the host country will have only one representative whilst the Zonal Union of the defending champion will qualify two teams,” CAF said, adding that the competition will be held annually and during the second half of the year.