African Nations Championship

African Nations Championship

Founded	2009
Region	Africa (CAF)
Number of teams	16
Current champions	DR Congo (2016)
Most successful team(s)	DR Congo (2 titles)
2016 African Nations Championship

Tournaments
2009 2011 2014 2016 2018

The African Nations Championship (sometimes referred to as African Championship of Nations or CHAN) is a football tournament which was first announced on 11 September 2007.^[1] It is administered by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and is played between the best national teams of Africa, exclusively featuring players who are active in the national championships and qualified to play in the ongoing season. Expatriate players, regardless of where they play, even in Africa, are not qualified to take part in the African Championship of Nations.

The first tournament was held in 2009. It was hosted by Ivory Coast and won by The Democratic Republic of the Congo. The competition was expanded to 16 teams for the second tournament, held in Sudan in 2011.^[2] The tournament was won by Tunisia, in the wake of the Tunisian Revolution.^[3]

The tournament is held every two years, alternating with the Africa Cup of Nations. The qualifying phase has taken place every even year and the final every odd year. From now on it has swapped years with Africa Cup of Nations.^[4]

It has been argued that, despite the fact that only national league players participate, the tournament is growing in importance. ^[5]

Tournament formation

The creation of the African Nations Championship was a response to the desire to revive or strengthen national competitions regularly weakened by a mass exodus of top players who leave their home countries to play for foreign teams which will pay more and get them more media coverage. Starting from the 2014 edition onwards, all of the matches are recognized by FIFA as first team matches.

CAF hopes that the players in the national competitions can experience the joy of the selection, and to one day integrate the selection with that of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Qualifying

The eight tournament spots, for the first edition in 2009, were allocated the following way:

• One each for North Zone, Zone West A, Zone West B, Centre Zone and Central-East Zone
• Two for the Southern Zone
• One for the host country of the final tournament^[6]

Since the second edition, in 2011, 16 teams qualify for the tournament, allocated this way (including host country):

• 2 each for North Zone and Zone West A
• 3 each for Zone West B, Central Zone, Central-East Zone and Southern Zone^[7]

Tournament format

The group stage of the African Nations Championship features pools of four teams drawn at random. The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage.

On 8 March 2009, Democratic Republic of the Congo defeated Ghana 2–0^[8] to become the first winner of the tournament.

Results

Year	Host nation		Final				Third Place Match
			Champion	Score	Second Place		Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
2009 Details	Ivory Coast		DR Congo	2 – 0	Ghana		Zambia	2 – 1	Senegal
2011 Details	Sudan		Tunisia	3 – 0	Angola		Sudan	1 – 0	Algeria
2014 Details	South Africa		Libya	0 – 0 (4–3 pen.)	Ghana		Nigeria	1 – 0	Zimbabwe
2016 Details	Rwanda		DR Congo	3 – 0	Mali		Ivory Coast	2 – 1	Guinea
2018 Details	Kenya		Future event				Future event
2020 Details	Ethiopia		Future event				Future event

Most successful national teams

Team	Champions	Runners-up	Third-place	Fourth-place
DR Congo	2 (2009, 2016)	-	-	-
Libya	1 (2014)	-	-	-
Tunisia	1 (2011)	-	-	-
Ghana	-	2 (2009, 2014)	-	-
Angola	-	1 (2011)	-	-
Mali	-	1 (2016)	-	-
Ivory Coast	-	-	1 (2016)	-
Nigeria	-	-	1 (2014)	-
Sudan	-	-	1 (2011*)	-
Zambia	-	-	1 (2009)	-
Algeria	-	-	-	1 (2011)
Guinea	-	-	-	1 (2016)
Senegal	-	-	-	1 (2009)
Zimbabwe	-	-	-	1 (2014)

* hosts

Participating nations

Team	2009	2011	2014	2016	2018	Years
Algeria		4th				1
Angola		2nd		GS		2
Burkina Faso			GS			1
Burundi			GS			1
Cameroon		QF		QF		2
Congo			GS			1
DR Congo	1st	QF	QF	1st		4
Ivory Coast	GS	GS		3rd		3
Ethiopia			GS	GS		2
Gabon		GS	QF	GS		3
Ghana	2nd	GS	2nd			3
Guinea				4th		1
Kenya					q	1
Libya	GS		1st			2
Mali		GS	QF	2nd		3
Mauritania			GS			1
Morocco			QF	GS		2
Mozambique			GS			1
Niger		QF		GS		2
Nigeria			3rd	GS		2
Rwanda		GS		QF		2
Senegal	4th	GS				2
South Africa		QF	GS			2
Sudan		3rd				1
Tanzania	GS					1
Tunisia		1st		QF		2
Uganda		GS	GS	GS		3
Zambia	3rd			QF		2
Zimbabwe	GS	GS	4th	GS		4
Total	8	16	16	16

Legend

1st – Champions 2nd – Runners-up 3rd – Third place 4th – Fourth place

QF – Quarter Finals GS – Group stage q – Qualified     — Hosts

See also

• List of association football competitions
• Africa Cup of Nations

References

1. "New tournament for Africa". BBC Sport. 11 September 2007.
2. Sannie, Ibrahim (28 February 2009). "CAF plans to expand CHAN". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 May 2009.
3. "Tunisia beat Angola in the CHAN final in Sudan". BBC Sport. 25 February 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
4. "Nations Cup switched to odd years". BBC Sport. 16 May 2010.
5. http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/jan/15/african-nations-championship-in-rwanda-gives-domestic-talent-a-chance
6. CAF Online: New Competition launched : African Championship of Nations
7. http://www.cafonline.com/competition/african-nations-championship_2011/qualifiers
8. "DR Congo lift CHAN trophy". BBC Sport. 8 March 2009.

External links

• Official page at Confédération Africaine de Football
• Explanation of format (French)