Algeria will organise the 8th edition of the Africa Nations Championship(CHAN) from January 13 to 4 February, 2023.
The 2022 edition of the competition is set to be held in Algeria from January 13 to February 4, 2023, and will be played in the four cities of Algiers, Annaba, Constantine, and Oran.
This will be the first time the competition will see eighteen(18) teams taking part in the tournament following CAF’s decision to increase the number of participating teams in the tournament.
Ahead of the tournament, we profile teams that have gained tickets to be present in Algeria and participate in the competition.
The Walia Ibex of Ethiopia is one of the teams who will be present and participate in the tournament after making a return to the competition for the first time since 2016 and are looking for a better performance this time around. Their last qualification came in 2016 and they have failed to qualify for the last two editions.
The Walis are poised to build on from their qualification to the 2021 AFCON staged in Cameroon and instill the lessons picked from the tournament to the home based players.
Currently, Ethiopia is one of the few African countries whose national team is mainly based on local players and traveled for the AFCON 2021 with the majority of its players from the local terrain with the same team expected for the Algeria duty.
Ethiopia are set to camp in Morocco and will organize test matches while there after been drawn in Group A with hosts Algeria, Libya and Mozambique.
Match Schedule (Group A)
January 13,2023; Ethiopia Vs Mozambique – Baraki Stadium, Algiers
January 17,2023; Algeria Vs Ethiopia -Baraki Stadium,Algiers.
January 21,2033; Libya Vs Ethiopia – 19 May Stadium, Annaba
Coach
The Veteran tactician Wubetu Abate is set to lead the Walis for the CHAN tournament since he handles both the mian national team and the CHAN team.
Abate as an old player saw his player career ruined with injuries and quickly ventured into coaching in 2007 and went on to clinch his first major trophy with Ethiopia Coffee in 2017 during the Local Premier league.
The former Al Ahly Shendy in Sudan coach has primarily coached clubs in Ethiopia with the only stint outside the shores of Ethiopia been with the sudanese club.
Squad
Players to Watch
Getaneh Kebede is one of the few players to watch for the Walis in Algeria. The veteran comes with a lot of charisma with his goal scoring ability and a weapon for the Ethiopian team. He scored the lone goal that handed Ethiopia their only point at the AFCON in a 1-1 draw with Burkina Faso.
Another player to look out for is Gatoch Panom. He will be a key figure in the midfield affairs for the Walis with so much experience having ply his trade in Saudi Arabia and Egypt and currently plays for St George in their local league.
History in Chan
The Walis have qualified for the CHAN tournament only twice; in 2014 and 2016 and bowed out in both occasions winless in the group stages. In the 2014 edition and their debut appearance, they lost all their games against Libya, Congo and Ghana.
The 2016 edition came with some improvements for the Walis in Kigali, Rwanda after picking a point from a draw with Cameroon but lost to Angola and eventual champions DR congo.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Morocco are the only nations to have won the competition twice. Tunisia and Libya each won one. The first competition was held in Ivory Coast in 2009. Only eight teams competed in the first edition of the tournament, which quickly grew to 16 teams for subsequent iterations.
