International Football
MOROCCO ‘BRINGS’ EGYPT INTO CHAN
BY BOLAJI OKUNOLA.
Morocco’s successful bid for the hosting of the fifth edition of African Nations Championship in January has brought good fortunes to Egypt, the country that Morocco eliminated to qualify for the initial tournament that was to hold in Kenya.
According to a media release by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the Emergency Committee of the continental football governing body decided bring in Egypt to complete the 16-team format as Morocco also qualify as hosts.
Though one of the strongest powerhouses of African football, this will be Egypt’s first participation since the tournament began in 2009. The African Nations Championship commonly called CHAN features only citizens of countries who play in their respective domestic leagues.
But more often than not, some players lose their participation status after their countries have qualified as they get contract abroad based on their performances during the qualifying tournaments. Meanwhile, the Emergency Committee of CAF rejected Mali’s protest against Mauritania and thus confirmed the participation of the later in the tournament that twill kickoff on January 12 and run through to February 4 next year.
The full field of the tournament runs thus:
North Zone: Morocco, Libya and Egypt
East Central Zone: Ethiopia and Uganda.
Central Zone: Cameroon, Congo and Equatorial Guinea
West Zone A: Guinea and Mauritania
West Zone B: Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso
South Zone: Zambia, Angola and Namibia.