It seems like only a matter of weeks since the dust settled over Cairo’s 30 June Stadium following Algeria’s historic victory in this year’s African Cup of Nations. Yet already, thoughts are turning to Africa’s next major football tournament. The African Nations Championship, or CHAN 2020, as it is more commonly known, will take place in January and February of next year. With qualification entering its closing stages, the shape of the tournament to come is beginning to come into focus.
Where national pride is paramount
Unlike the Nations Cup, teams that participate in the Nations Championship may not include footballing prima donnas from the European or South American leagues. Instead, players representing their countries must also play in their domestic leagues. So for example, Senegal would not be able to call on the services of Sadio Mané, even in the unlikely event that Liverpool would make him available.
Tournament structure
The sixteen qualifiers are divided into four groups of four, and each team plays the other once. The top two teams from each group then proceed to the quarter finals. Teams are awarded three points for a win and one for a draw. In the event of points being tied, the usual tiebreakers apply, ie points in head to head matches, followed by goal difference followed by goals scored.
Qualification
As the host nation, Cameroon was the only team to be granted automatic qualification. A total of 48 teams have then been left to fight it out for the other 15 places. Already, this tournament looks set to be one of those “expect the unexpected” affairs. Indeed, the speed with which games have twisted and turned is making CHAN 2020 something of a poster child for in-play football betting where punters can place bets at any point during gameplay and odds change as the game progresses.
A case in point is Lesotho’s incredible performance back in July to beat South Africa 6-2 on aggregate in Round Two of the Southern Zone qualifiers, with Lehlohonolo Fothoane scoring a world-class winner in the dying minutes of the first leg before Jane Thaba-Ntšo scored twice to give his team an unassailable lead in the second.
Past winners
This will be the sixth edition of the African Nations Championship. The inaugural event was held in 2009 in the Ivory Coast and was won by the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is the only team to have lifted the trophy twice, having also won the 2016 tournament, held in Rwanda. DR Congo is clearly one to watch in the tournament, and seems a certainty to qualify, going into the second leg against Central African Republic on 18 October with a two goal lead.
Current champions Morocco have a tougher challenge even to make the tournament, facing Nations Cup winners Algeria in what is effectively a winner-takes-all showdown at home on the same date.
The other past winners are Tunisia, who won in 2011 in Sudan, and Libya, the 2013 winners when the tournament was hosted by South Africa. These two former champions will also be duking it out for qualification rights on 18 October, Tunisia going into the fixture with a one goal advantage after the first leg.
One other team that punters will be watching closely is Ghana. Over the history of the tournament, they have been twice the bridesmaids but never the bride, making it to the final in both 2009 and 2014. In order to go a step further this year, they will need to overcome Burkina Faso by at least two goals when they meet in the final qualifying match at Stade du 4 Août next month.