CHAN 2020 Qualifiers – First Round
Uganda vs Somalia
1st Leg: 26th-28th July 2019 – Mogadishu
2nd Leg: 02nd-04th August 2019 – Kampala
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has confirmed that Uganda will face Somalia in the first round of the 2020 Championship of African Nations (CHAN) qualifiers.
Initially, Uganda was slated to face South Sudan but after a review of fixtures, the Cranes will now face Somalia instead.
This comes after Ethiopia withdrew from hosting the competition, prompting changes in the fixtures.
The two Nations are part of 8 from the COSAFA region that will tussle it out for the two available slots for the 2020 tournament.
Somalia had earlier been pitted with Rwanda and it remains to be known what happens to the later.
The first leg between the Cranes and Somalia will be held between 26th to 28th July 2019 in Mogadishu while the second (leg) happens between 2nd-4th August 2019.
The winner between Uganda and Somalia over the two legs will face the victors between Burundi and South Sudan in the second round.
The 2020 CHAN which will now be hosted in Cameroon will be the 6th edition of the tournament which started in 2009.
DR Congo are the record champions of the competition, winning it twice (2009 and 2016). Morocco are the defending champions of CHAN after defeating Nigeria 4-0 in the 2018 final.
Uganda have qualified for four of the first five editions but have never gone past the group stages.
In 2011 while making their debut, finished bottom of group A after losing all their games.
They returned for the 2014 edition in South Africa where they won one game, defeating Burkina Faso 2-1. The other two games saw them draw 0-0 with Zimbabwe and then lost the other 1-3 to Morocco, bowing out of the competition after finishing third in group B.
For the 2016 edition in Rwanda, the Cranes once again finished third in their group (D) with two points after draws against Mali and Zimbabwe and a 0-1 loss to Zambia.
The Cranes most recent appearance at the championships was in Morocco-2018. At the finals, Uganda lost 1-3 to Zambia, went down 0-1 against Namibia before drawing 1-1 with Ivory Coast to exit the competition at the group stage, once again.
CHAN is a tournament exclusively played by locally based players plying their trade in the domestic leagues of the respective countries.
CHAN past winners
-2009 – DR Congo
-2011 – Tunisia
-2014 – Libya
-2016 – DR Congo
-2018 – Morocco
