2018 African Nations Championship

The 2018 African Nations Championship, known as the 2018 CHAN for short and for sponsorship purposes as the Total African Nations Championship, was the 5th edition of the biennial association football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) featuring players from their respective national leagues. Originally supposed to be hosted in Kenya,[1][2] it was instead hosted by Morocco from 13 January to 4 February 2018.

2018 African Nations Championship
  • 2018 CHAN
  • 2018 بطولة امم افريقيا
Tournament details
Host countryMorocco
Dates13 January – 4 February
Teams16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Morocco (1st title)
Runners-up Nigeria
Third place Sudan
Fourth place Libya
Tournament statistics
Matches played32
Goals scored58 (1.81 per match)
Top scorer(s) Ayoub El Kaabi (9 goals)
Best player(s) Ayoub El Kaabi
Fair play award Morocco
2016
2020

The 2016 finalists, DR Congo and Mali, failed to qualify for this edition following their qualification losses, Mali losing 3–2 to Mauritania on aggregate and DR Congo losing to the neighbouring Congo via the away goals rule. Hosts Morocco defeated Nigeria 4–0 in the final to win their first title which made Morocco the first team to win the tournament on home soil.[3][4][5]

Host selection

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Following the conclusion of the final of the previous edition in Rwanda on 7 February 2016, CAF announced Kenya as the host nation of the next edition 48 hours later.[1][2][6] However, CAF decided to change the host nation on 23 September the following year due to a lack of progress with preparations[7] and open up a new tender process for a replacement team with the deadline of 30 September 2017. The countries who submitted to replace Kenya as hosts are:[8]

The Ethiopian Football Federation did not provide the government's letter of guarantee and were not considered; the CAF Emergency Committee decided on 15 October that year to choose Morocco over Equatorial Guinea.[9][10]

Qualification

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The qualification rounds took place from 20 April to 20 August 2017.[11]

Since Morocco had already qualified in the Northern Zone before replacing Kenya as hosts, their spot in the main phase was re-allocated to their opponents in the Northern Zone final qualifying round, Egypt.[12] However, Egypt declined to participate citing a "congested domestic calendar".[13] As a result, the spot was reverted to Central-East Zone (as originally three teams would participate including original-turned-stripped hosts Kenya), and would go to the winner of a play-off in November 2017 between Ethiopia and Rwanda, the two teams which lost in the Central-East Zone final qualifying round.[14]

Qualified teams

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The following teams qualified for the group stage of this edition of the tournament:

Team Zone Appearance Previous best performance FIFA ranking
at start of event
  Cameroon Central Zone 3rd Quarter-finals (2011, 2016) 45
  Congo 2nd Group stage (2014) 96
  Equatorial Guinea 1st Debut 146
  Rwanda Central-East Zone 3rd Quarter-finals (2016) 113
  Sudan 2nd Third place (2011) 136
  Uganda 4th Group stage (2011, 2014, 2016) 75
  Libya North Zone 3rd Champions (2014) 88
  Morocco (hosts) 3rd Quarter-finals (2014) 40
  Angola South Zone 3rd Runners-up (2011) 141
  Namibia 1st Debut 118
  Zambia 3rd Third place (2009) 74
  Guinea West A Zone 2nd Fourth place (2016) 65
  Mauritania 2nd Group stage (2014) 99
  Burkina Faso West B Zone 2nd Group stage (2014) 44
  Ivory Coast 4th Third place (2016) 61
  Nigeria 3rd Third place (2014) 51

Venues

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This edition of the tournament had matches held in Casablanca, Marrakech, Agadir and Tangier.

Casablanca Marrakesh
Stade Mohamed V Stade de Marrakech
Capacity: 45,600 Capacity: 45,240
   
Tangier Agadir
Ibn Batouta Stadium Stade Adrar
Capacity: 45,000 Capacity: 45,480
   

Before Kenya was stripped of its hosting rights, its football association planned to use 4 stadiums for this edition of the tournament.[15] However, only Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi and Kasarani Stadium in Kasarani were considered to meet hosting requirements after inspections by CAF, while Mombasa Municipal Stadium in Mombasa and Kinoru Stadium in Meru did not.[16]

Squads

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The squads of the participating teams each consisting of 23 players per the tournament's regulation article 72[17] were announced by CAF on 10 January 2018.[18][19]

Match officials

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A total of 32 match officials (16 referees and 16 assistant referees) were selected for this edition of the tournament, of which 7 were selected to operate the video assistant referee (VAR) system in a CAF competition for the first time ever, beginning at the knockout stages.[20][21][22]

Draw

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The draw for the group stage was held at Sofitel Rabat in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, on 17 November 2017 at 19:30 WET (UTC±0).[23]

The teams were drawn into 4 groups of 4.[24] The hosts Morocco were seeded in Group A. The remaining teams were seeded based on their results in the four most recent editions of the tournament: 2009 (multiplied by 1), 2011 (multiplied by 2), 2014 (multiplied by 3), 2016 (multiplied by 4):[25][26][27]

  • 7 points for winner
  • 5 points for runner-up
  • 3 points for semi-finalists
  • 2 points for quarter-finalists
  • 1 point for group stage

Based on the formula above, the 4 pots were allocated as follows:

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4
  1.   Morocco (hosts) (10 pts)
  2.   Libya (22 pts)
  3.   Ivory Coast (15 pts)
  4.   Angola (14 pts)
  1.   Nigeria (13 pts)
  2.   Guinea (12 pts)
  3.   Cameroon (12 pts)
  4.   Zambia (11 pts)
  1.   Rwanda (10 pts)
  2.   Uganda (9 pts)
  3.   Sudan (6 pts)
  4.   Congo (3 pts)
  1.   Burkina Faso (3 pts)
  2.   Mauritania (3 pts)
  3.   Namibia (0 pts)
  4.   Equatorial Guinea (0 pts)

Group stage

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The top two teams of each group advance to the knockout stage.

Tiebreakers

Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 74):[17]

  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Drawing of lots.

All times are local, WET (UTC±0).[28]

Group A

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Morocco (H) 3 2 1 0 7 1 +6 7 Knockout stage
2   Sudan 3 2 1 0 3 1 +2 7
3   Guinea 3 1 0 2 3 5 −2 3
4   Mauritania 3 0 0 3 0 6 −6 0
Source: CAF (archived)
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Morocco  4–0  Mauritania
Report
Guinea  1–2  Sudan
Report

Morocco  3–1  Guinea
Report
Sudan  1–0  Mauritania
Report

Sudan  0–0  Morocco
Report
Mauritania  0–1  Guinea
Report

Group B

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Zambia 3 2 1 0 6 2 +4 7 Knockout stage
2   Namibia 3 2 1 0 3 1 +2 7
3   Uganda 3 0 1 2 1 4 −3 1
4   Ivory Coast 3 0 1 2 0 3 −3 1
Source: CAF (archived)
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Ivory Coast  0–1  Namibia
Report
Zambia  3–1  Uganda
Report

Ivory Coast  0–2  Zambia
Report
Uganda  0–1  Namibia
Report

Uganda  0–0  Ivory Coast
Report
Namibia  1–1  Zambia
Report

Group C

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Nigeria 3 2 1 0 4 1 +3 7 Knockout stage
2   Libya 3 2 0 1 4 1 +3 6
3   Rwanda 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 4
4   Equatorial Guinea 3 0 0 3 1 7 −6 0
Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Libya  3–0  Equatorial Guinea
Report
Nigeria  0–0  Rwanda
Report

Libya  0–1  Nigeria
Report
Rwanda  1–0  Equatorial Guinea
Report

Rwanda  0–1  Libya
Report
Equatorial Guinea  1–3  Nigeria
Report

Group D

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Congo 3 2 1 0 3 0 +3 7 Knockout stage
2   Angola 3 1 2 0 1 0 +1 5
3   Burkina Faso 3 0 2 1 1 3 −2 2
4   Cameroon 3 0 1 2 1 3 −2 1
Source: CAF (archived)
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Angola  0–0  Burkina Faso
Report
Cameroon  0–1  Congo
Report

Angola  1–0  Cameroon
Report
Congo  2–0  Burkina Faso
Report

Congo  0–0  Angola
Report
Burkina Faso  1–1  Cameroon
Report
  • P. Moussombo   52'

Knockout stage

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From this stage onward, the video assistant referee (VAR) system would make its debut in a CAF competition. Extra time and penalty shoot-out were used if necessary to decide the winner, except for the third-place match where penalty shoot-out and no extra time was used if necessary to decide the winner per the competition's regulations article 75.[17]

Bracket

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Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
27 January – Casablanca
 
 
  Morocco2
 
31 January – Casablanca
 
  Namibia0
 
  Morocco (a.e.t.)3
 
28 January – Agadir
 
  Libya1
 
  Congo1 (3)
 
4 February – Casablanca
 
  Libya (p)1 (5)
 
  Morocco4
 
27 January – Marrakech
 
  Nigeria0
 
  Zambia0
 
31 January – Marrakech
 
  Sudan1
 
  Sudan0
 
28 January – Tangier
 
  Nigeria1 Third place
 
  Nigeria (a.e.t.)2
 
3 February – Marrakech
 
  Angola1
 
  Libya1 (2)
 
 
  Sudan (p)1 (4)
 

Quarter-finals

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Morocco  2–0  Namibia
Report
Referee: Mahamadou Keita (Mali)

Zambia  0–1  Sudan
Report

Nigeria  2–1 (a.e.t.)  Angola
Report
Referee: Sadok Selmi (Tunisia)

Congo  1–1 (a.e.t.)  Libya
  • Junior Makiesse   32'
Report
  • Saleh Al Taher   14'
Penalties
3–5
  •   M. Taktak
  •   A. Khalleefah
  •   A. Alaqoub
  •   A. Al-Maghasi
  •   Sand Masaud

Semi-finals

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Morocco  3–1 (a.e.t.)  Libya
Report
  • A. Khalleefah   86'

Sudan  0–1  Nigeria
Report

Third place match

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Libya  1–1 (a.e.t.)  Sudan
Report
Penalties
  • M. Taktak  
  • M. Elhouni  
  • A. Alaqoub  
  • Ablo  
2–4

Final

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Morocco  4–0  Nigeria
Report
Attendance: 75,000

Goalscorers

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9 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal

Awards

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The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:[30]

Total Man of the Competition
  Ayoub El Kaabi[30]
Top Scorer
  Ayoub El Kaabi[30] (9 goals)
CAF Fair Play Team
  Morocco[30]

Team of the Tournament

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Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards
  Akram El Hadi

Substitutes: Anas Zniti (Morocco), Sand Masaud (Libya), (Angola), Bader Hasan (Libya), Augustine Mulenga (Zambia), Saifeldin Bakhit (Sudan), Ismail El Haddad (Morocco)

Man of the match

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Stage Team 1 Result Team 2 Man of the Match
First round of group stage matches
Group A Morocco   4–0   Mauritania   Abdelilah Hafidi
Guinea   1–2   Sudan   Saifeldin Malik Bakhit
Group B Ivory Coast   0–1   Namibia   Vetunuavi Hambira
Zambia   3–1   Uganda   Lazarous Kambole
Group C Libya   3–0   Equatorial Guinea   Saleh Al Taher
Nigeria   0–0   Rwanda   Djihad Bizimana
Group D Angola   0–0   Burkina Faso  
Cameroon   0–1   Congo   Prestige Mboungou
Group A Morocco   3–1   Guinea   Ayoub El Kaabi
Sudan   1–0   Mauritania   Omer Suleiman Koko
Group B Ivory Coast   0–2   Zambia   Augustine Mulenga
Uganda   0–1   Namibia   Lloyd Kazapua
Group C Libya   0–1   Nigeria   Stephen Eze
Rwanda   1–0   Equatorial Guinea   Thierry Manzi
Group D Angola   1–0   Cameroon  
Congo   2–0   Burkina Faso   Junior Makiesse
Group A Sudan   0–0   Morocco   Akram El Hadi Salim
Mauritania   0–1   Guinea   Ibrahima Sory Sankhon
Group B Uganda   0–0   Ivory Coast   Kouamé N'Guessan
Namibia   1–1   Zambia   Teberius Lombard
Group C Rwanda   0–1   Libya   Elmutasem Abushnaf
Equatorial Guinea   1–3   Nigeria   Dayo Ojo
Group D Congo   0–0   Angola   Francoeur Baron Kibamba
Burkina Faso   1–1   Cameroon   Wend-Panga Bambara
Knockout stage matches
Quarter-finals Morocco   2–0   Namibia   Salaheddine Saidi
Zambia   0–1   Sudan   Mohamed Hashim
Nigeria   2–1 (a.e.t.)   Angola   Ikechukwu Ezenwa
Congo   1–1 (a.e.t.)
(3–5 p)
  Libya   Abdulrahman Khalleefah
Semi-finals Morocco   3–1 (a.e.t.)   Libya   Ayoub El Kaabi
Sudan   0–1   Nigeria   Gabriel Okechukwu
Third place match Libya   1–1
(2–4 p)
  Sudan   Muhannad El Tahir
Final Morocco   4–0   Nigeria   Zakaria Hadraf

Tournament team rankings

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As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Final result
1   Morocco (H) 6 5 1 0 16 2 +14 16 Champions
2   Nigeria 6 4 1 1 7 6 +1 13 Runners-up
3   Sudan 6 3 2 1 5 3 +2 11 Third place
4   Libya 6 2 2 2 7 6 +1 8 Fourth place
5   Congo 4 2 2 0 4 1 +3 8 Eliminated at the quarter-finals
6   Zambia 4 2 1 1 6 3 +3 7
7   Namibia 4 2 1 1 3 3 0 7
8   Angola 4 1 2 1 2 2 0 5
9   Rwanda 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 4 Eliminated at the group stage
10   Guinea 3 1 0 2 3 5 −2 3
11   Burkina Faso 3 0 2 1 1 3 −2 2
12   Cameroon 3 0 1 2 1 3 −2 1
13   Uganda 3 0 1 2 1 4 −3 1
14   Ivory Coast 3 0 1 2 0 3 −3 1
15   Equatorial Guinea 3 0 0 3 1 7 −6 0
16   Mauritania 3 0 0 3 0 6 −6 0
Source: [citation needed]
(H) Hosts

References

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  1. ^ a b Njuguna, William; Musau, Nzau. "Kenya to Host 2018 Africa Nations Cup". Daily Star Kenya. allAfrica. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  2. ^ a b "From Rwanda to Kenya". CAFOnline.com. 9 February 2016. Archived from the original on 15 March 2017. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  3. ^ Cavell, Nick (4 February 2018). "CHAN 2018: Morocco beat Nigeria 4-0 in final to lift trophy". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  4. ^ "Hosts Morocco win CHAN 2018, whipping Nigeria by four goals". africanews. 4 February 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  5. ^ Clark, Gill (4 February 2018). "Morocco Cruise to 4-0 Win over Nigeria to Win 2018 CHAN Final". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  6. ^ "Kenya to host 2018 African Nations Championship". Daily Nation. 24 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  7. ^ "Kenya loses Chan hosting rights as Caf decides". Daily Nation. 23 September 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
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  9. ^ "Morocco will host Total CHAN 2018". CAFOnline.com. 15 October 2017. Archived from the original on 7 April 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  10. ^ "الكاف يختار المغرب لاستضافة كاس افريقيا للاعبين المحليين 2018 الموقع الرسمي للجامعة الملكية المغربية لكرة القدم" [CAF chooses Morocco to host the African Cup of Local Players 2018]. FRMF (in Arabic). 15 October 2017. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
  11. ^ "CAF Flash Magazine: Final 2016 Orange Confederation Cup" (PDF). CAFOnline.com. 2 November 2016. pp. 26–27. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  12. ^ "Egypt qualify for Total CHAN, Morocco 2018". CAFOnline.com. 15 October 2017. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  13. ^ Osano, Bonface (22 October 2017). "AFRICAN FOOTBALL Egypt declines CHAN 2018 invite". Soka25East. Kenya. Archived from the original on 22 October 2017. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  14. ^ "Play-off Ethiopia - Rwanda for a place in Total Chan, Morocco 2018". CAFOnline.com. 28 October 2017. Archived from the original on 6 November 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  15. ^ Gachanja, Jacob (17 May 2016). "FKF reveals stadia plans ahead of CHAN 2018". Futaa. Archived from the original on 19 May 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  16. ^ "Kenya 'Loses' Rights to Host 2018 CHAN Due To Shoddy Stadiums". Nairobi Wire. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  17. ^ a b c "Regulations of the African Nations Championship" (PDF). CAFOnline.com. 23 May 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  18. ^ "Squad lists revealed". CAFOnline.com. 10 January 2018. Archived from the original on 14 January 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  19. ^ Kassem, Amina (10 January 2018). "Squad Lists" (PDF). CAFOnline.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 January 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  20. ^ "Match Officials for Total CHAN Morocco 2018 announced". AIPS Africa. 27 December 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  21. ^ "CHAN 2018 Appointed Referees" (PDF). CAFOnline.com. 14 December 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 January 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  22. ^ "CHAN kicks off as local African talent goes on show". CAFOnline.com. 12 January 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  23. ^ "Draw on November 17th in Rabat". CAFOnline.com. 18 October 2017. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  24. ^ "Results and Fixtures of Total CHAN Morocco 2018 draw". CAFOnline.com. 17 November 2017. Archived from the original on 22 November 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  25. ^ "Total CHAN 2018: Pots for final draw revealed". CAFOnline.com. 15 November 2017. Archived from the original on 18 November 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  26. ^ "Procedure for the draw" (PDF). CAFOnline.com. 15 November 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  27. ^ "Ranking of qualified teams" (PDF). CAFOnline.com. 15 November 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 November 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  28. ^ "Fixtures of the Total African Nations Championship (CHAN), Morocco 2018". CAFOnline.com. 17 November 2017. Archived from the original on 24 November 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  29. ^ "Zambian Sikazwe to officiate Morocco-Mauritania opener". CAFOnline.com. 12 January 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  30. ^ a b c d "El Kaabi named Total man of the tournament". CAFOnline.com. 6 February 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
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