CAF officials in Kenya for final CHAN assessment

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Confederation of African Football (CAF) inspectors arrived in Kenya on Monday to assess the country’s progress towards hosting next year’s African Nations Championships (CHAN).

The eight-member team’s visit was delayed a week due to uncertainty surrounding the disputed outcome of last month’s presidential election in Kenya.

CAF vice-president Constant Omari Selemani is leading the inspection team that will visit training facilities and four stadiums before issuing a final verdict on Kenya’s readiness to host the biennial 16-team tournament for the first time.

“We are on top of things and ready for the inspection. Construction work is going on all around the four stadiums, which should be ready and handed over to the government in a month’s time,” said Herbert Mwachiro, Kenya’s CHAN 2018 chief.

Qualification for the championship, which is only open to footballers playing in their own domestic leagues, was completed in late August with the shock eliminations of two-time defending champion the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mali, a 2016 finalist.

The 16 teams selected to play are Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Sudan, Uganda and Zambia.

The championship is scheduled for January 12 to February 4, 2018.