Nigeria’s home-based national team will await the winner between Togo and Benin Republic after drawing bye in the qualifiers for next year’s Championship of African Nations (CHAN 2020) in Ethiopia.
Footballive.ng gathered that the qualifiers will hold on zonal basis, with Nigeria rated high on the basis of a bronze medal finish at South Africa 2014, the third edition of the competition, and silver at Morocco 2018.
The Nigerian home-based players’ squad, which crashed in the group stage at the 2016 edition in Rwanda, draw bye for the qualifiers’ draw on Wednesday at the CAF Headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.
The draw, which held on the sidelines of a meeting among members of the CHAN organising committee, had a total of 47 teams named in battle for 15 places to join host Ethiopia for the sixth edition of the tournament designed exclusively for footballers playing in their domestic leagues.
The draw was the highlight of the 25-member committee’s meeting, at which the competition’s format and procedure were approved.
The format of the competition remains unchanged and will be played on a zonal basis to determine the finalists for Ethiopia.
The quota for the various zonal qualifiers are: Northern Zone – 2 teams, Western A Zone – 2 teams, Western B Zone – 3 teams, Central Zone – 3 teams, Central-East Zone – 2 teams + Ethiopia and Southern Zone – 3.
