Home-based Eagles to wait longer for opponents as CAF postpones 2023 CHAN draw

Nigeria’s Chukwudiebube Emeka Ogbugh (left) challenges Abdeljalil Jbira of Morocco during the 2018 CHAN final match at the Stade Mohamed V in Casablanca, Morocco. Algeria will host the 2023 edition of CHAN.

The draw for the Algeria 2023 African Nations Championship (CHAN) earlier slated for today has been postponed till further notice by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

The draw was to hold in Morocco today alongside that for the African Women Nations Cup, but in postponing it, CAF said it would communicate new dates for the event to all interested parties ‘in due course.’

In the notice sent to its affiliate bodies, CAF wrote: “The TotalEnergies CHAN Algeria 2023 qualification draw initially scheduled for Friday, April 29, 2022 has been postponed.

“CAF will communicate new dates in due course. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

Nigeria is aiming to return to the championship meant for players plying their trade in their home countries after missing the last edition.

The Mohamed VI Complex, Morocco, was earlier scheduled to host the now postponed draw for which participating countries have been divided into pools for the qualification series.

Nigeria are looking for a first triumph in the seventh edition, after finishing as runners-up in Morocco four years ago and picking the bronze medals in South Africa in 2014.

The African Nations Championship, exclusively for footballers plying their trade in their home country, started in 2009 and was hosted by Cote d’Ivoire, with Sudan hosting the second edition in 2011. The event was moved to even years subsequently, with South Africa hosting in 2014, Rwanda in 2016, Morocco in 2018 and Cameroun in 2020 (staged in 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic).

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