Chan 2016: Rwanda to suspend domestic league

RWANDA will be required to suspend the 2015/16 national football league for the entire time it will be hosting the 2016 Africa Nations Championship (Chan).

Monday, January 27, 2014

RWANDA will be required to suspend the 2015/16 national football league for the entire time it will be hosting the 2016 Africa Nations Championship (Chan).According a senior Confederation of African Football official, the body will soon unveil new rules that will compel host countries to suspend their leagues.The development comes at a time South Africa is hosting Chan 2014 while the domestic league is going on."We shall make sure nations that host the Chan event suspend the League for the entire time,” said Caf secretary general Hicham El Amrani.Bafana Bafana were knocked out in the group stages because the coach could not field his strongest team as clubs refused to release all their important players for Chan, the tournament for locally-based players.Now Caf has vowed to take the matter more seriously – at least in future editions"Teams that refuse to allow their players to feature for the national team in the host country will have those players suspended,” Amrani said."We are going to sit as Caf and make certain tough decisions on future hosts because this will help the championship to be better organiSed. It will also ensure we have a high level of competition instead of some teams undermining it.”Rwanda will host the 4th edition of Chan in 2016. South Africa’s poor performance on home soil has drawn criticism from several quarters, including the country’s Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula.