THE Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Issa Hayatou has endorsed Rwanda as a candidate to host the 2016 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN).

During Thursday’s press conference at Kigali Regional stadium, Sports Minister Joseph Habineza revealed that the country was bidding to host the continental competition and that Hayatou was ready to put in a good word for them after staging two successful continental tournaments in a space of three years.

The hosting nation will be revealed during a Caf meeting slated for January 29 in Lubumbashi.
CHAN is a competition reserved for players featuring in their respective domestic leagues.

The first edition was held in 2009 in Ivory Coast. Following Caf’s move to switch the Africa Nations Cup to odd years, CHAN will now be held in even years.

This literally means that after this year’s edition which is slated to run from February 4 – 25 in Khartoum, Sudan; subsequent editions will be held in even years starting with the 2012 edition.

Rwanda is one of 16 teams chasing for this year’s crown.
But before starting to even think about the title, the Amavubi Stars have to pass their first test which is to get past the group stage. The wasps are drawn in Group D alongside some of Africa’s top footballing nations in Tunisia, Angola and Senegal.

Rwanda reached the competition after edging Tanzania 1-0 on aggregates and will open their campaign on February 7 against Senegal.

DRC won the inaugural event.

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