Cameroon will host the 2020 edition of the African Nations Championship (CHAN). The decision to award the hosting to Cameroon was taken during an Executive Committee meeting of CAF on Friday April 12, 2019. Cameroon was declared the new host following Ethiopia’s withdrawal as host for the competition.

Reports say, the President of the Ethiopia Football Federation, Esayas Jira, had earlier declared that his country’s preparations to host the 2020 CHAN were behind schedule. Ethiopia has not been able to respect the deadline due to delays in construction and rehabilitation works.

According to the CAF President Ahmad Ahmad the decision to award CHAN 2020 will enable Cameroon to be better prepared for the African Nations Cup. Cameroon was stripped of hosting rights for this year’s Africa Cup of Nations and was awarded the 2021 edition. Ethiopia becomes the second CECAFA nation to fail to host the tournament after Kenya did likewise last year. The qualifiers for this edition will start in July with Uganda taking on South Sudan in a doubleheader.

The winner between the two will go on to take on the winner between Rwanda and Somalia for a place in the finals. Morocco are the defending champions of the competitions, winning it last year on home soil when they defeated Nigeria 4-0 in the finals. The CHAN 2020 will be the sixth edition of the African Nations Championship.

Cameroon had a poor outing in Morocco in 2018, but are on course to getting yet another chance to make amends at home in 2020. The biennial tournament organised by CAF features exclusively players from the respective national championships. The competition will take place between January and February 2020.