CHAN now considered for Fifa rankings

The African Nations Championship will be taken into consideration for the monthly ranking by the world football governing body.


The Federation of International Football Association (Fifa) has sanctioned matches at the ongoing African Nations Championship for the monthly ranking.
This decision by the football governing body has been imposed with immediate effect. With this development, the January ranking will take account matches played until the 12th of January 2014 within the framework of the ongoing competition in South Africa.

Also, the February ranking shall incorporate all other matches of the competition, which is held from January 11th to the 1st of February 2014.

"This marks an important step taken towards the development of this Competition and of football on the local level within the Continent,” an elated Issa Hayatou told journalists in Bloemfontein.
“It shall further encourage the youth of our Continent, for whom the CHAN had been created to serve as an additional platform that brings to the attention of the world all the talents of which Africa is loaded.

"When we had decided to create this competition, there was a lot of pessimism about the success of our initiative. We started with eight teams in the first edition and we went directly to sixteen in the second.
“The FIFA's decision gives us confidence to pursue our bold innovations for the sake of developing football in our Continent. I remain convinced that the African Championship shall grow much faster than expected, “concluded the president of Caf.