African Nations Championship Starts in a Few Days – Can South Africa Surprise Everyone?

Also known as CHAN 2024, we are just days away from the beginning of one of Africa’s most interesting international football competitions. The biennial tournament should have occurred in February 2025, but CAF postponed it for August 2-30, 2025.

Even though the tournament will be held in 2025, it is often referred to as the 2024 African Nations Championship. This is because it was originally scheduled for 2024, but due to logistical and unstructured issues, the organizers postponed it to 2025.

The event has much to offer, and football fans worldwide can expect many intriguing clashes, especially around South Africa. The team’s in an interesting position and can surprise everyone, but before we see what happens, dive into Efirbet SA team’s research to learn more about the upcoming event.

What is the African Nations Championship & What Happened In the Last Event

The African Nations Championship is a biennial tournament organised by CAF (Confederation of African Football). It’s an international tournament in Africa, but unlike the African Cup of Nations (AFCON), for example, this one has an interesting twist – it only features players playing in their country’s respective leagues. In other words, the tournament does not feature footballers playing abroad.

Although some may find this condition disappointing, it is what sets CHAN apart from any other football tournament. Since teams can’t use all of their players, fans can see many new names in action and many surprising turns of events when it comes to soccer predictions and odds.

The first-ever CHAN was in 2009, and it only included 8 teams. Following the initial success, CAF increased the teams to 16, and for the current event, we will have a total of 19 teams.

Football fans who followed the last African Nations Championship remember that it occurred between January and February 2023. It included 17 teams, and after a fierce battle, Senegal clinched their first CHAN title. The team defeated Algeria (the host at the time) on penalties.

CHAN 2024 – What to Expect

Moving on to the current 2024 African Nations Championship, the event will be held in three countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda.

We will have 19 teams in total that will play in the Group Stage, Knockout Rounds, and the Final, which will be in Kampala on August 30, 2025. Speaking of Kampala, Uganda, will host the Grand Final at the Mandela National Stadium, but this is not the biggest stadium. That honor goes to Nairobi’s Moi International Sports Complex, which can seat up to 65,000 people.

Group Stage & South Africa’s Chances

Following CAF’s announcement on June 27, 2025, we know the names of all the teams in the four Groups at CHAN 2024. Here’s a brief overview of each group (interestingly, the last one has 4 teams, whereas the rest have 5). Remember that only the top two will advance to the quarterfinals.

As you can see, every single group has something to offer. Users wishing to know more about the South African squad’s winning chances, all the highlights about the other teams, their perspectives, and much more can check the Efirbet SA soccer news article because it provides in-depth coverage.

The Situation With South Africa

As we can see, South Africa is in Group C with Nigeria and Algeria, two of the event’s big favorites. SA is usually in a position to surprise its opponents, but it’s essential to know that the team did not qualify for the 2022 CHAN (the last event prior to this year’s African Nations Championship).

The team suffered elimination during the qualification and missed out on the event (the same happened in 2018 and 2022). In fact, South Africa only qualified twice before CHAN 2024 (in 2011 and 2014), and the team’s best result is the quarterfinals in 2011.

Moving on to CHAN 2024, the Locally-based Bafana Bafana secured a slot for the tournament by succeeding in the qualification process. The team was in the Southern Zoen (COSAFA) and eventually reached the Final Qualification Playoff.

Interestingly, there was a Second Qualifying Stage because Tunisia and Libya withdrew from the Northern Zone. This allowed SA to compete alongside 6 other teams for the 2 remaining slots.

The team faced Malawi and defeated it with a score of 2:1.

South Africa’s Squad & Most Important Players at CHAN 2024

Even though the competition will only feature players from South Africa’s domestic league, several names deserve more attention. For example, country goalkeeper Reyaard Pieterse is one of Mamelodi Sundowns’ stars and was a key figure during the qualifiers.

Samkelo Zwane is another important South African player. Kaizer Chiefs’ midfielder is often called the “central cog” because of his importance to the team.

Moving forward, we have Aphelele Teto and Tebogo Potsane. South African football fans know these two are popular for their strong dribbling and finishing, making them key figures for the team. Potsane, for example, had a key role in the attack in the game against Malawi.

As for South Africa’s squad for the African Championship 2024, it will have the following:

CHAN 2024 Favorites

Alongside South Africa, CHAN 2024 will have several countries and players that definitely have what it takes to be among the favorites.

According to experts, Morocco is the big favorite here because of the team’s strong domestic league. Algeria and Egypt also deserve attention because their local leagues have consistently produced some of the best CHAN squads. Next, we have Senegal, the country that won CHAN 2022 after defeating Algeria.

DR Congo is another team worth mentioning because it has won the event several times. When discussing favorites in Africa, we have to mention Nigeria. It is one of the big names in African football, and the country’s attack-minded squad will challenge the rest.

Lastly, we have one of the co-hosts – Kenya. This is definitely the team with the dark horse status because the home advantage can make a huge difference.

As for the 2024 African Nations Championship superstars, there are a few names that you should keep a close eye on:

• Farouk Shikhalo (Kenya)
• Aboud Omar (Kenya)
• Clement Mzize (Tanzania)
• Feisal Salum (Tanzania)

Closing Thoughts

We tried to provide essential information about one of Africa’s most interesting football tournaments. CHAN 2024 starts just a few days from now, so don’t miss out on one of the biggest football events of the year. The unique format makes this competition stand out, and we can’t wait to see the results.