Somalia pulls out of CHAN 2025 qualifiers shortly after kick-off

Somalia has pulled out of the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (CHAN) preliminary round qualifiers that kick off this weekend.

Yusuf Ahmed, the General Secretary of the Somalia Football Federation (SFF) confirmed to Cecafaonline.com that they will not be able to field a team. “We decided to withdraw because of financial challenges,” explained Ahmed.

Burundi who were meant to face Somalia in the first round of the preliminary stage now earn a walkover where they will face Uganda in the final phase.

Meanwhile, in the other CHAN 2025 qualifiers for the teams in the CECAFA Zone Sudan will host Tanzania in a first-leg match to be played on October 27th, 2024 in Nouakchott, Mauritania. The same day South Sudan will play host to Kenya at the Juba National Stadium.

Djibouti who donot have a stadium cleared by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) will also host the first leg against Rwanda at the Amahoro Stadium in Kigali on Sunday.

The return legs will be played between November 1-3, 2024, while second-round matches take centre stage between December 20-22 for the first round, and the return legs December 25-27, 2024.

The tournament will be hosted by Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania between February 1-28th, 2025. CECAFA will have four teams play in the CHAN 2024, while all the other Zones COSAFA, WAFU A, WAFU B, UNAF, and UNIFFAC will have three teams each.

Source: Cecafaonline.com