By Adeyinka Akintunde, Lagos on December 3, 2015

The countdown has started towards the next edition of the Championship of African Nations (CHAN), a tournament introduced by the Confederations of African Football (CAF) strictly for home-based African players, who are usually marginalised by their national teams during the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). No foreign-based player is allowed to participate in the CHAN. The tournament holds bi-annually, alternating with AFCON.

The first CHAN tournament was held in Cote d’Ivoire in 2009, and won by the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was an eight-team competition. In 2011, when Sudan hosted it, it was expanded to 16 teams, and that tournament was won by Tunisia.

DR Congo, Tunisia and Libya have been the most successful countries in this competition, having won it in 2009, 2011 and 2014 respectively. Ghana comes next, having reached the final twice, losing 2-0 to DR Congo in 2009, and 4-3 on penalties, after a goalless draw to Libya in 2014.

The 2016 CHAN will be staged in Rwanda. Nigeria is drawn in Group C alongside Tunisia, Niger Republic and Guinea. Libya won the 2014 edition in South Africa, but failed to qualify for 2016 because they came last in their qualifying group, behind Morocco and Tunisia. Libya could only win one match, and score one goal throughout the qualifiers, a victory they got against Tunisia in Cassablanca, Morocco.

Tunisia were CHAN Champions in 2011. They drew 1-1 with Angola, beat Rwanda and Senegal 3-1 and 2-0 respectively, to come out tops of Group D. They further overcame DR Congo 1-0, beat Algeria 5-3 on penalties, after a 1-1 draw before clinching the trophy by beating Angola 3-0 in Omdurman.

Niger Republic got to the quarter-finals in 2011 where they lost 4-3 to Sudan on penalties, after a 1-1 draw, during regulation time. They had come out second in Group B then, beating Ghana and Zimbabwe 1-0 each, and losing 2-0 to South Africa.

Nigeria has been mostly unimpressive in CHAN competitions. The best performance of the Home-Based Eagles was a third place finish at the 2014 edition in South Africa, after failing to qualify for the 2009 and 2011 editions.

In Rwanda, Guinea will be participating in the CHAN for the first time in their history, after failing to qualify for previous editions. The tournament holds from January 16 to February 7.

The groupings:

Group A: Rwanda, Gabon, Morocco, Cote d’Ivoire

Group B: DR Congo, Angola, Cameroon, Ethiopia

Group C: Tunisia, Nigeria, Niger Republic, Guinea

Group D: Zimbabwe, Mali, Uganda, Zambia.

•Photo shows Nigeria’s Home Eagles celebrating with petite Ejike Uzoenyi, one of the stars of 2014 CHAN.

Source Daily Sports

Posted December 3, 2015

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