The African Nations Championship, also known as CHAN, is a biennial competition created by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) where national teams battle for the title. The competition features players only from domestic competitions, contrary to what happens in the African Cup of Nations, where national teams can choose their squad regardless of where their players perform. The competition is scheduled so that it does not interfere with any AFCON edition.
The competition has a unique system to draw the teams involved as a limited number of slots are available in the qualifiers, which are sorted out by region. Once the teams are known and the host nations are determined, CAF celebrates a draw where teams enter one of five groups including three to four teams.
Once all groups have been drawn, those groups including four teams are granted two spots in the KO stage, while those featuring three national teams are given one slot in the final phase. Once in the KO rounds, teams are drawn against their peers based on their performance during the group stage.
The KO stage sees all ties being played as one-leg tie, with extra time and penalties used to determine the winner in case of a draw.
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