May 26, (THEWILL) – The draw for the 2022 African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifiers was held in Cairo on Thursday, with the potential of another Nigeria and Ghana face off for a spot in the finals.
The tournament’s seeding method was based on the results of the previous three editions of the CHAN, which means that Ghana and Benin were the lowest-ranked teams and will play each other in regional qualifiers. In the final round of Western Zone B, the aggregate winner of that game will face Nigeria.
The expanded event for locally-based athletes, which will feature 18 teams for the first time, received entries from 46 countries. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) declared earlier this week that the number of teams will be increased from 16 to 20, resulting in an unusual structure for the finals in Algeria next year.
Participating teams will be divided into five groups, three of which will be made up of four nations and the other two will be made up of just three teams, according to CAF. Algeria, Morocco, and Libya, all of which are from North Africa, have already qualified for the event.
However, despite being banned from international football by FIFA and having been expelled out of Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, Zimbabwe was included in the Southern Zone qualifications draw. CAF explained how it will handle this: “In case the suspension of Zimbabwe FA is not lifted two weeks before their first match, they will be considered loser and eliminated from the competition.”
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
