Kigali: Rwanda’s Amavubi Stars has been exempted from participating in the first round of the 2020 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) in a new format which was released by CAF on Monday.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) confirmed in statement sent to all member association, ‘The CAF Executive Committee approved the new format of qualifiers of CHAN 2020 for the Central East Zone (CECAFA) with the inclusion of Ethiopia and Djibouti,’
The development comes after the withdrawal of Ethiopia from hosting the next edition of the Africa Nations Championship-CHAN 2020.
The CAF Executive Committee approved the new format of qualifiers of CHAN 2020 for the Central East Zone (CECAFA) with the inclusion of Ethiopia and Djibouti.
In the new format, Rwanda will face the winner of Djibouti and Ethiopia in the second round which is scheduled to be played in September, 2019.
The qualifying rounds will consist of two rounds and only Rwanda and Sudan who are the top two ranked teams have been exempted from the first round.
Rwanda which is well ranked in CECAFA region following its participation in the two previous editions held in Rwanda and Morocco respectively, needs to prepare well and win over two legs to snatch an automatic qualification to qualify for the continent’s second biggest football event for a fourth time – and a third time in a row – having participated at the 2011 edition in Sudan, the 2016 competition in Rwanda and the 2018 finals tournament staged in Morocco.
The first leg between the winner of Djibouti and Ethiopia will face Rwanda in the first leg due on September 20-22, 2019 while the return leg will be staged in Kigali in the weekend of October 18-20, 2019.
The 2020 African Nations Championship (CHAN), a competition that is designed for players featuring in their respective domestic leagues, will be held in Cameroon. (End)