Morocco to host Chan 2018

Yaoundé. Morocco has been designated to host the 2018 Total African Nations Championship (Chan), the Confederation of African Football (CAF), said in a statement on Sunday.

The statement said Caf’s emergency committee met in Nigeria on Saturday and ‘unanimously decided’ to grant the organisation of the tournament to the Royal Moroccan Football Federation.

The meeting was presided over by Caf president Ahmad Ahmad.

Kenya was on September 23 stripped of the right to host the Chan tournament due to inadequate preparedness and security concerns over a disputed presidential contest.

Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia and Morocco had officially expressed their willingness to replace Kenya.

“The candidacy of Morocco was preferred to that of Equatorial Guinea, another country to have submitted a valid application,” the CAF release read in part.

It said the Ethiopian Football Federation did not provide the government's letter of guarantee, “which is a mandatory document required by the rules of application of the Statutes of the Caf”.

Total CHAN, is a competition that brings together 16 national teams exclusively of players featuring in the national championships of their respective countries.

Fifteen countries; Republic of Congo, Libya, Morocco, Cameroon, Nigeria, Zambia, Uganda, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania, Sudan, Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Namibia have all qualified for the tournament which will take place from January 12 to February 4, 2018.