National Teams
2025 CHAN Qualifiers: CAF appoints Togolese, Moroccan officials for Nigeria, Ghana matches
By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has appointed match officials from Togo to take charge of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifying match between the home-based teams of Ghana and Nigeria.
The first leg is scheduled for the Accra Sports Stadium on Sunday, 22nd December 2024.
The game is the first leg of the qualifying fixture between both teams, with the second and concluding leg to take place at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo on Saturday, 28th December.
Aklesso Gnama will be in the role of referee, with compatriots Jonathan Ahonto Koffi, Wassiou Tchamolla Ourotou and Kossi Fabrice Senyo as assistant 1, assistant 2 and fourth official respectively.
Ivan Gator Brown from Liberia will serve as commissioner while Beninoise official Hugues Alain Adjovi will be in the role of referee assessor.
For the return leg in Uyo, Moroccans Hamza El Fariq, Abdessamad Abertoune, Zakaria Bouchtaoui, and Hicham Temsamani will work as referee, assistant 1, assistant 2, and fourth official, respectively, with Prince Kai Saquee from Sierra Leone as commissioner and Miboti Moise from the Democratic Republic of Congo as referee assessor.
The game in Accra will commence at 4 pm Ghana time (5pm in Nigeria) while the return leg will kick off at 5pm.
The winner on aggregate will qualify for the 8th African Nations Championship finals, to be hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania – which will use the event as dress rehearsal to test-run facilities and equipment for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations finals they have been selected to host. The tournament will hold 1st – 28th February, 2025.
Since 2018, Nigeria have not qualified for the tournament after three consecutive qualifications.
In 2014, the team finished third under late coach Stephen Keshi in South Africa.
Two years later in Rwanda, the team bowed out in the group stage.
Their best performance so far at the competition was recorded in 2018 as the team reached the final in Morocco.
