Nigeria and South Africa to miss 2022 CHAN

After qualification for the 2022 finals in Algeria ended on Sunday, South Africa and Nigeria will be noticeable omissions from the African Nations Championship.

After a 2-2 overall tie, Ghana edged out Nigeria on penalties, while South Africa was defeated 4-1 at home by Angola, who won the tournament 6-1 overall. Senegal, Morocco, Cameroon, and the Ivory Coast are among the top nations represented at the seventh iteration of the competition for home-based stars.

In falling behind 2-0 after the first leg, Nigeria mounted a late comeback in Abuja to defeat their opponents 2-0 in the second leg thanks to goals from Zulkifilu Rabiu and Chijioke Akuneto, who converted a late penalty.

Maurice Ugochukwu missed, and Ghana made all five of its penalty penalties in the shootout to knock out the 2018 runners-up, Nigeria.
After failing to qualify for the previous three editions, Ghana, a two-time finalist that was defeated, returned to the finals with the dramatic triumph.

Despite having one of the strongest national leagues in Africa, Nigeria has only made it to the finals three times, and one of their shocking qualification defeats came in 2020 against Togo.