Home-based African stars get chance to shine

AFP, Johannesburg :
Qualifying begins this weekend for the fourth African Nations Championship, a senior national football team competition unique to the continent.
Only home-based footballers are eligible, offering space on the international stage for many who would otherwise remain in the shadows.
Many African national teams, including Algeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Senegal, are composed almost exclusively of foreign-based stars.
So the African Nations Championship — or CHAN — gives the best home talent a chance to don the national kit and display their skills.
Launched in 2008, the brainchild of Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Issa Hayatou has been won by the Democratic Republic of Congo in Abidjan, Tunisia in Khartoum and Libya in Cape Town.