African Nations Championship

The CAF African Nations Championship (French: Championnat d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as African Championship of Nations, CHAN, or Total African Nations Championship for sponsorship reasons) 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 tournament.

Not to be confused with Africa Cup of Nations.
African Nations Championship
Founded2009
RegionAfrica (CAF)
Number of teams16
Current champions Morocco (1st title)
Most successful team(s) DR Congo (2 titles)
Websitewww.cafonline.com
Tournaments

The first tournament was held in 2009. It was hosted by Ivory Coast and won by DR Congo. The competition was expanded to 16 teams for the second tournament, held in Sudan in 2011.[2][3] The tournament was won by Tunisia, in the wake of the Tunisian Revolution.[4]

The tournament is now held every even years,[5] alternating with the Africa Cup of Nations.

History

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.[6][7]

Sponsorship

In July 2016, Total secured an eight-year sponsorship package from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to support 10 of its principal competitions.[8] Due to this sponsorship, the African Nations Championship is named "Total African Nations Championship".

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[9]

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[10]

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[11] to become the first winner of the tournament.

Results

Summaries
Year Host Number of teams Final Third Place Match
Champion Score Second Place Third Place Score Fourth Place
2009
Details		  Ivory Coast 8
DR Congo		 2–0
Ghana
Zambia		 2–1
Senegal
2011
Details		  Sudan 16
Tunisia		 3–0
Angola
Sudan		 1–0
Algeria
2014
Details		  South Africa 16
Libya		 0 – 0
(4–3 pen.)
Ghana
Nigeria		 1–0
Zimbabwe
2016
Details		  Rwanda 16
DR Congo		 3–0
Mali
Ivory Coast		 2–1
Guinea
2018
Details		  Morocco 16
Morocco		 4–0
Nigeria
Sudan		 1 – 1
(4–2 pen.)
Libya
2020
Details		  Cameroon 16 Future event Future event
2022
Details		  Algeria[12] TBD Future event Future event

Performance by nation
Team Champions Runners-up Third-place Fourth-place
 DR Congo 2 (2009, 2016) – – –
 Libya 1 (2014) – – 1 (2018)
 Tunisia 1 (2011) – – -
 Morocco 1 (2018*) – – –
 Ghana – 2 (2009, 2014) – –
 Nigeria – 1 (2018) 1 (2014) –
 Angola – 1 (2011) – –
 Mali – 1 (2016) – –
 Sudan – – 2 (2011*, 2018) –
 Ivory Coast – – 1 (2016) –
 Zambia – – 1 (2009) –
 Algeria – – – 1 (2011)
 Guinea – – – 1 (2016)
 Senegal – – – 1 (2009)
 Zimbabwe – – – 1 (2014)

* hosts.

Champions by region
Federation (Region) Champion(s) Number
UNAF (North Africa) Libya (1), Morocco (1), Tunisia (1) 3 titles
UNIFFAC (Central Africa) DR Congo (2) 2 titles
WAFU (West Africa) None 0 titles
CECAFA (East Africa) None 0 titles
COSAFA (Southern Africa) None 0 titles

Hat-tricks
Given Singuluma, first player scored hat-trick at the tournament.

A hat-trick is achieved when the same player scores three or more goals in one match. Listed in chronological order.

Sequence
 Player No. of
goals		 Time of goals Representing Final
score		 Opponent Tournament Round Date
1.Given Singuluma336', 49', 50' Zambia3–0 Ivory Coast2009Group stage22 February 2009
2.Chisom Chikatara375', 81', 90' Nigeria4–1 Niger2016Group stage18 January 2016
3.Ayoub El Kaabi327', 65', 68' Morocco3–1 Guinea2018Group stage17 January 2018

Participating nations
Team
2009
2011
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022		Years
 Algeria4thq 2
 Angola2ndGSQF 3
 Burkina FasoGSGSq 3
 BurundiGS 1
 CameroonQFQFGSq 4
 CongoGSQFq 3
 DR Congo1stQFQF1stq 5
 Ivory CoastGSGS3rdGS 4
 Equatorial GuineaGS 1
 EthiopiaGSGS 2
 GabonGSQFGS 3
 Ghana2ndGS2nd 3
 Guinea4thGSq 3
 LibyaGS1st4th 3
 MaliGSQF2ndq 4
 MauritaniaGSGS 2
 MoroccoQFGS1stq 4
 MozambiqueGS 1
 NamibiaQFq 2
 NigerQFGSq 3
 Nigeria3rdGS2nd 3
 RwandaGSQFGSq 4
 Senegal4thGS 2
 South AfricaQFGS 2
 Sudan3rd3rd 2
 TanzaniaGSq 2
 Togoq 1
 Tunisia1stQFq 3
 UgandaGSGSGSGSq 5
 Zambia3rdQFQFq 4
 ZimbabweGSGS4thGSq 5
Total81616161616
Legend

See also

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. "CAF Executive Committee Decisions". Cafonline. 19 September 2009. Archived from the original on 18 December 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2010.
  4. "Tunisia beat Angola in the CHAN final in Sudan". BBC Sport. 25 February 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
  5. "Ghana 'favourites' to host 2018 CHAN after WAFU Nations Cup success". social_image. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  6. "African Nations Championship in Rwanda gives domestic talent a chance". The Guardian. 15 January 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  7. "Nigeria 'do not have A and B teams' says Oliseh ahead of Nations Championship". The National. 15 January 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  8. AfricaNews (18 April 2017). "Total to sponsor CAF competitions for the next eight years". Africanews. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  9. CAF Online: New Competition launched : African Championship of Nations Archived November 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 October 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. "DR Congo lift CHAN trophy". BBC Sport. 8 March 2009.
  12. "Decisions of CAF Executive Commitee [sic] - 27 & 28 September 2018". CAF. 29 September 2018.
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