The article discusses African Nations Championship fixtures for 2023. Furthermore, it provides information about the competition format, where to place bets on the competition, and answers to some frequently asked questions.
What is the African Nations Championship Format?
The African Nations Championship, popularly known as CHAN, is a biennial African football competition organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), in which each participating country’s squad must solely consist of home-based players. Foreign-based players are not allowed to compete in the tournament; only players who ply their trade in their national league competitions are eligible.
Participating Teams
Initially, only eight teams competed in the tournament. However, after the inaugural edition, the number of teams was increased to 16 due to the increasing interest of nations in the competition. There are eighteen teams in the current competition format, split into five groups (A–E) with two groups of three teams and three groups of four teams each.
After playing the African Nations Champions qualifiers to secure qualifications for the competition, the top seed in Group A will be the hosts, while the top seed in Group C will be the defending champions. The remaining teams were seeded based on their performances in 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020 final tournaments.
How to Compete
Each team competes against the other in each group (round-robin format), with the top two teams from Groups A to C standings and Group D and E winners advancing to the knockout stage.
Depending on the result of each game, the losing team receives no points, the winning team receives three points, and in the event of a draw, both teams receive one point each.
If two teams from the same group finished with the same number of points on the table, tie-breakers such as goal difference, goals scored, and draws by the tournament’s organizing committee will be used to judge the team that will qualify for the next round.
With the exception of Groups B and D, where the winners of both groups play each other, eight teams advance to the knockout stage, where the group winner from one group faces the runner-up from another group based on standings.
Similar to the group stage, each game in the knockout stage is a one-legged tie. The winner of each quarter-final advances to the semifinals, while the semifinal winners advance to the final. If a knockout game ends in a draw after 90 minutes of regulation time, the extra time and, if necessary, a penalty shootout will be played.
Where can I get African Nations Championship Predictions?
Like most tournament predictions, our football experts consider many factors, such as host country, match venue, head-to-head record, tournament history, etc., before making CHAN predictions. You can find our African Nations Champions predictions in our dedicated article.
Frequently Asked Questions about African Nations Championship
Now that you know how the African Nations Championship works, you can wager on the competition. Here are some of the frequently asked questions about the African Nations Championship fixtures.
The schedule of the tournament means there are 32 games in the African Nations Championship; 24 in the group stage and 8 in the knockout stages.
No, Nigeria has not won the African Nations Championship before. The closest they’ve been to winning the championship was in 2018, when they finished as runners-up after losing 4-0 to the hosts, Morocco.
Nigeria has been in the African Nations Championship thrice; in 2014, 2016, and 2018.
No, Nigeria is not going for the next African Nations Championship, failing to qualify for the next edition of the tournament in 2023.
Algeria will host the next African Nations Championship in 2023. The African Nations Championship fixtures will be held between January 8 and 31, 2023.