The African Nations Championship (CHAN) made its debut in the Ivory Coast a week ago and still has a week to go, but is anybody paying attention? The CHAN is not the Africa Cup of Nations (ACN), the biggest nations football tournament on the continent. It s much less in stature but that may have been the point. The CHAN does come with an original idea in that the participating players are based only in their home country s domestic league, so star Africans playing in Europe or even those playing in other African leagues are not allowed to take part. The idea is that home-based players will have an opportunity to showcase their talent at a major competition, and to elevate the status of Africa s domestic leagues. There is merit in the idea. It gives a chance for players who have never won the ACN or never even participated in it to win something else. But the obvious problem is that the CHAN has no stars. There are very few African players of quality who are still playing in Africa. Any African worth anything is now in Europe. So in the CHAN there is no Samuel Eto o, Michael Essien, Didier Drogba or newly crowned king of Africa Emmanuel Adebayor. You won t see Flavio or Gilberto because whereas they play in Africa, they play in the Egyptian league, not in their own Angola. And what s the point of holding such a tournament if you can t see the player voted the best in Africa, Mohamed Abou-Trika, because Egypt bypassed the event? The other problem is that the football calendar is already stuffed; it doesn t need an additional event. Egypt, for example, faces upcoming qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup. There is also the Confederations Cup in June. And then there are club fixtures: domestic leagues, domestic cups and, if you re in it, the African Champions League, Confederation Cup and the Arab Club Championship, not to mention friendlies for club and country. That s a ton of games, with all the subsequent physical and mental exhaustion that such a plethora of matches leads to. In the middle of the congestion, the CHAN has squeezed itself in, to be played once every two years, alternating with the ACN. Egypt is not in the CHAN. With less than a month before African World Cup qualifiers begin, we preferred instead to concentrate on getting to the World Cup. Egypt could have done exceptionally well in the CHAN. It has won a record six ACN championships, taking the last one fielding mostly home-based players. It stands to reason it could have triumphed in a tournament that has no player playing in Europe. And Egypt certainly could have used the practice as it seeks a World Cup berth. But we did not go, not even represented by a referee after Shaaban Hamdy was dropped for failing a fitness test. Few no-shows in CHAN are having sleepless nights. The tournament simply does not have the drawing power, the money or the big names that can pull in fans, the media, sponsors or nations. Even hosts Ivory Coast were anxious. The build-up to the event was dogged by worries over the lack of awareness amongst the public, sparking fears that matches would be played in front of poor crowds. They treated that by opening the stadium s gates for free to spectators. Still, the Ivory Coast didn t help its own cause after crashing out of the tournament in the group stage. It will take years for the CHAN to attract attention. Like good wine, a championship s popularity is inversely proportional to how long it s been around. The CHAN will definitely give African players who otherwise sit on the bench, the sidelines or their living rooms the break they ve been waiting for. With the Congolese, Libyans, Senegalese, Tanzanians and Zimbabweans failing to make the final qualifying phase of the World Cup, the CHAN offers consolation. But without the stars that partake in the ACN, the CHAN is destined to be a weak imitation of the real thing.
