Chan 2016 draw set for April 5

The draw for the 2016 African Nations Championship (Chan) qualifiers will be held on April 5 at the Confederation of African Football (Caf) headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. A total of 42 teams will be engaged in the draw based on zonal allocations of the national associations affiliated to Caf. There will be two rounds each for the qualifiers except for the Northern Zone which includes Libya, Morocco and Tunisia with each playing the other on a round-robin basis with the top two qualifying for the final tournament. The Zone West A which is comprised of Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Sierra Leone will only see two sides qualifying for the fourth edition of the biennial competition. Zone West B with Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria and Togo has three slots while Central Zone with Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Chad, DR Congo and Gabon has three spots as well. Central-East Zone encompassing hosts Rwanda, Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda has been allocated three slots including Rwanda who do not need to qualify. Southern Zone which covers Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Mauritius, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe has also been apportioned three slots. The qualifiers will start from the weekend of June 19-21 through to August 28-30 where 15 teams will emerge to join hosts Rwanda for the fourth edition of Chan from January 16-February 7 next year. The Mediterranean Knights of Libya are the defending champions of the tournament devised exclusively for players who feature in their domestic leagues. The North Africans clinched the 2014 trophy in South Africa. Democratic Republic of Congo won the inaugural event hosted by Ivory Coast in 2009 while Tunisia lifted the 2011 title in Sudan. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Chan 2016 draw set for April 5