This year’s Total Energies African Nations Championship (CHAN) is the seventh edition of the one-of-a-kind championship, which is only open to players from Africa.
The three-week festival is set to begin on January 13 in four Algerian cities, including Algiers, Annaba, Constantine, and Oran.
The Desert Foxes are one of 18 countries competing in the competition, which will conclude on February 4 at Algiers’ Nelson Mandela Stadium.
Everything you need to know about this year’s tournament is listed alphabetically below.
2022 African Nations Championship How to Watch Free Live:
Viewers around the world can watch the action live on the following channels and here for free:
Live Broadcast: 2022 African Nations Championship Live (it’s free)
2022 African Nations Championship Schedule:
The 2022 African Nations Championship complete schedule is found here.
2022 African Nations Championship Everything You Need To Know:
A – This is Algeria’s first major CAF competition since 1990 when they hosted the famous Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and won it in front of their people. Despite hosting the U20 AFCON in 2013, the country’s most prominent African football tournament was the 1990 AFCON, which they won. It was their first AFCON championship. The Desert Foxes won their second title in Egypt in 2019.
B – Algeria’s Madjid Bougherra is the first former FIFA World Cup captain to coach in the CHAN. He guided the Desert Foxes to victory in Brazil in 2014.
C – This year’s TotalEnergies CHAN has 15 African coaches, a tournament record. A remarkable era that demonstrates the continent’s exponential growth in homegrown talent on the sidelines.
D – Winners of the inaugural edition, the Democratic Republic of the Congo the only team to win the TotalEnergies CHAN outside of North Africa and are the tournament’s equal most successful side, having won the 2016 edition in Rwanda. Can DR Congo make it three wins in a row in Algeria?
E – For the first time, the number of competing teams has expanded from sixteen to eighteen for the first time. They are separated into five groups, three of which have four teams apiece, while the other two have three teams each.
F – Three female referees have been chosen for this year’s TotalEnergies CHAN, including Togo’s Vincentia Amedone, Cameroon’s Carine Atezambong Fomo and Kenya’s Diane Chikotesha (Zambia).
G – Ghana’s Galaxies have reached the CHAN final twice, in 2009 and 2014, but have yet to win the championship. Will they shine in Algeria?
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H – Algerians are recognized for their friendliness. This emphasizes the tournament’s motto, Marhaba, which means “welcome” in Arabic. People in Algeria smile and greet you everywhere you go. Restaurants are buzzing with positive energy and a strong sense of belonging. We already adore it.
I – Goalkeeper Ibrahim Danlad will try to duplicate his experience with the Black Stars of Ghana at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. He was named man-of-the-match in his team’s goalless draw against hosts Algeria in a friendly game over the weekend to inaugurate the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers, one of the TotalEnergies CHAN host stadiums this year.
J – We’re joined at the hip. This year’s TotalEnergies CHAN will include four games involving countries that share borders, including a highly anticipated North African rivalry between hosts Algeria and Libya.
In Group B, DR Congo and Uganda fight is set to offer fireworks in a Great Lakes Region clash, while Mauritania and Mali are looking forward to a West African clash. Meanwhile, Cameroon and Congo will compete for bragging rights in this Central African rivalry, which should produce a fantastic show of football for the neutrals.
K – The first game, between Algeria and Libya, will take place on January 13 at 1900hrs GMT at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Baraki.
L – Local managers have won five of the six CHAN titles on display, including Santos Mutubile with DR Congo (2009), Tunisia’s Sami Trabelsi (2011), Florent Ibenge with DR Congo (2016), Jamal Sellami with Morocco (2018), and Hussein Ammouta with Morocco (2018).
M – Madagascar will be the lone team making its debut in this year’s tournament. The Barea, who reached the quarter-finals of their first AFCON three years ago in Egypt, will try to duplicate a similar form in Algeria.
2022 African Nations Championship betting favourites:
There are obvious favourites and underdogs among the 24 teams competing in the month-long competition.
Looking at recent World Cup qualifications is a wonderful place to evaluate which teams are doing well and which have slipped when determining who to back. Morocco was the only side to win all six games, despite the fact that its group of Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, and Sudan was not particularly difficult. Cameroon, favourite Senegal, and value selection Mali all won five of the six qualifiers, while Egypt and Algeria were undefeated with four wins and two draws.
Ivory Coast, on the other hand, is a team brimming with in-form players that were not listed above. With a 4-1-1 record, the Elephants finished second in World Cup qualification Group D, falling only behind group champions Cameroon on a 1-0 result that eliminated the Ivory Coast and advanced Cameroon to the final round of World Cup qualifying.
Nonetheless, this is a nation with amazing offensive talent. Sebastien Haller is perhaps the most in-form player in the world, having scored 10 goals in six Champions League group stage matches for Ajax, and he is supported on the wings by dribble masters Wilfried Zaha and Nicolas Pepe, as well as Burnley winger Maxwel Cornet, who was in good form before suffering an injury. The defence is also battle-tested, with Eric Bailly in central defence. Bailly was supposed to partner with Wolves defender Willy Boly, but an injury forced his withdrawal, therefore Bayer Leverkusen starter Odilon Kossounou, 21, will take over.