Why CAF has postponed CHAN 2024 to August
On the eve of the CHAN 2024 draw in Nairobi, the Confederation of African Football has announced a postponement of a few months
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Rumours had been swirling for a few days, and it became official on Tuesday 14 January: CHAN 2024 will not be played in February but in August 2025.
Hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, the competition was meant to be a dress rehearsal for AFCON 2027. However, CAF concluded that "more time was needed for the infrastructure and facilities to reach the required level to host a successful CHAN."
Behind a polished statement featuring a flattering contribution from president Patrice Motsepe, the reality is different: Kenya in particular is badly behind on both infrastructure and organisation.
Kenya's delays
Kenya, the host of the 2018 edition, had already been replaced by Morocco because it was unable to organise the tournament. That raises some concerns about its real capacity to host part of AFCON 2027…
Read also: CHAN 2024: Kenya already on borrowed time
However, CAF took other factors into account too, having floundered from start to finish with this edition of CHAN. The successive withdrawals of two automatically qualified nations, Libya and Tunisia, caused serious problems in determining the two "replacement" teams.
The problem with the replacement places
Keen to make the competition more attractive, CAF promised more funding while also hoping to attract big names such as Egypt, who have never taken part in CHAN. That angered many federations, such as Togo, who asked CAF for explanations, with an underlying question: is it fair that teams who invested resources to qualify for CHAN are passed over for the replacement places in favour of another that did not enter a team in qualifying?
The first replacement, Rwanda, had already irritated several federations because CAF unilaterally decided to grant another qualifying place in the CECAFA zone. Thanks to the away goals rule, the Amavubi joined Sudan and the three host nations. That left the final ticket, a source of discord…
Add to that the very tight scheduling with Champions League and Confederation Cup fixtures, and the conclusion could hardly have been different: CHAN 2024 could be played this summer, once all the problems have been resolved.