Kenya draws tough opponents in CHAN draw

The draw for the finals of the CAF African Nations Championship (CHAN) tournament was conducted on Wednesday in Nairobi, with Kenya being pooled in a difficult group.

The East African nation were drawn in Group A alongside two-time winners, Morocco and DR Congo, as well as Angola and Zambia, in a pool packed with past champions and quality teams. The event was held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) with the 19 teams drawn into four groups.

Another host nation, Tanzania, were drawn in Group B and will take on Madagascar, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Central African Republic while c0-host Uganda were pooled in Group C and will come up against Niger, Guinea, Qualifier 1 and Qualifier 2.

Defending champions, Senegal, found themselves in Group D, which is a four-team pool, and will face Congo, Sudan and Nigeria.

According to the Confedera­tion of African Football (CAF), two teams will have to book their place and join the groups before the tournament, which was earlier scheduled for February 1st to 28th, but was pushed to August, 2025.

A statement from CAF con­firmed: “Two teams must still book their places at the finals, with Algeria, Comoros, Gambia, Malawi, Egypt, South Africa and Gabon to take part in a qualification cam­paign to fill the slots in the draw for Qualifier 1 and Qualifier 2.”

The draw was conducted with the assistance of three East African football legends, Uganda’s Hassan Wasswa, Mrisho Ngasa of Tanza­nia and Kenya’s McDonald Mariga. This will be the fifth edition of the CHAN tournament, with Senegal as the defending champions.