CHAN 2020 Hosts:
- Ethiopia
As the 2018 Championship of African Nations (CHAN) tournament curtains rolled down in Morocco, CAF President Ahmad Ahmad officially handed over the mantle to host the 2020 edition to Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) officials in Casablanca, Morocco.
Led by the EFF President Juneidi Basha and the country’s sports minister, Ethiopia received the CAF flag amidst excitement.
The horn of African nation embarked on preparations three years ago to host a successful tournament which only accomodates locally based players plying in the respective domestic football leagues.
The Government of Ethiopia has invested heavily in infrastructure with state of art stadia in major cities, roads system, hotels as well as improved general security.
“The first phase of the construction of the national stadium in Addis Ababa has been completed 65%. The 63,000 seat stadium, due to be completed mid-2018, is being built jointly by China State Construction Engineering and consulting firm MH Engineering,” Juneidi remarked.
In 2016, an Ethiopian born Saudi Arabian billionaire Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Almoudi built a state of art modern football 25,000 seater stadium in Woldia City.
There are also other stadia in the cities of Addis Ababa, Hawassa and Bahir Dar.
Meanwhile, Gabon and Djibouti remain suspended from the qualifiers of next edition. This is in accordance with the provisions of Article 59 of the regulations of the African Nations Championship, the Organising Committee.
The committee passed the ruling on Wednesday, 15 November 2017, in Rabat and passed the resolutions.
Both Gabon and Djibouti withdrew from the qualifiers for the 2018 edition at the 11th hour.
Few days prior to their qualifier against Equatorial Guinea, specifically 5 August 2017, the Gabon Football Federation sent a letter of withdrawal from the competition.
On the other hand, the Djibouti Football Federation also communicated its withdrawal on 17 July 2017 communicating their failure to travel for the match away to Ethiopia.
Both Djibouti and Gabonese federations were each fined $10,000.