The Confederation of African Football (CAF) have revealed that that draw for the 2022 African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifiers will be held on Thursday 26 May 2022 in Cairo, Egypt.Algerian legend Djamal Menad, top scorer and winner of 1990 AFCON with Algeria, will be the draw assistant joined by CAF Head of Competitions Khaled Nassar.This follows the news where CAF stated that the Championship, which brings together players who compete in their respective domestic leagues, will for the first time in history be expanded from the usual 16 teams to 18 participating countries.“The draw for the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (CHAN) Algeria 2022 qualifiers has been set for Thursday, 26 May 2022 in Cairo, Egypt. The draw will be conducted at 13h00 Cairo time (11h00 GMT) live on CAF digital pages,” CAF said.TotalEnergies CHAN Algeria 2022 Qualifiers draw set for Thursday https://t.co/2YCrSYKoPq— CAF Media (@CAF_Media) May 24, 2022 With two added teams, CAF say the finals will have five groups; three of which will have four nations, while the other two will be comprised of just three teams. It means the top two from the four-team groups will be joined in the quarter-finals by the winners of the other two pools.The Central (set to include Chad, Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe) and Western A (set to include Cape Verde, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal) zones will both have an extra qualifying slot under the revised format.Morocco will take part in the Northern Zone qualifiers as they bid to win the title for a third straight time, having defended it at the delayed 2020 finals which were held in Cameroon last year.Morocco making history by becoming the first African country to win back-to-back CHAN (African Nations Championship) trophies on February 7th, 2021. pic.twitter.com/RAzIYXnxIX— Africa Facts Zone (@AfricaFactsZone) February 20, 2021 The delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic coupled with the World Cup in Qatar in November and December seem to be having a knock-on effect on the CHAN finals, which are scheduled for 8-31 January 2023.Qualifying spots for CHAN 2022Northern Zone – 2 places + hosts AlgeriaWestern Zone A – 3 placesWestern Zone B – 3 placesCentral Zone – 3 placesCentral Eastern Zone – 3 placesSouthern Zone – 3 places
