Eritrea to face Ethiopia in CHAN 2025 qualifiers

Eleven nations in the CECAFA Zone will battle in the qualifiers for the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (CHAN) 2025.

In the draw conducted on Wednesday by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in Cairo, Eritrea have been drawn to face Ethiopia in the first round, while Burundi take on Somalia.

Eritrea had taken several years without participating in CHAN qualifiers. The winner between Burundi and Somalia will take on Uganda who automatically qualified for the second round because of being highly ranked.

The winner between Ethiopia and Eritrea will take on the winner between Sudan and Tanzania in the second round, while the winner between South Sudan and Kenya will battle the winner between Djibouti and Rwanda in the final phase of the qualifiers.

The tournament will be hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania between February 1-28th, 2025.

The first leg matches of the first round will be played between October 25-27, 20224 and the return legs between November 1-3, 2024. The second round matches of the qualifiers will be played between December 20-22 for the first round, and the return legs December 25-27, 2024.

CECAFA will have four teams play in the CHAN 2024, while all the other Zones COSAFA, WAFU A, WAFU B, UNAF and UNIFFAC will have three teams each.

In the CECAFA Zone Uganda has qualified a record six times from the seven Editions of the CHAN competitions that have been held since 2009. Rwanda have qualified four times, while Sudan and Ethiopia have each qualified for CHAN three times.