Ethiopia and Rwanda will meet during November to fill the place at the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN) vacated by Egypt, the organisers confirmed on Monday.

Egypt withdrew after clubs refused to release players as the tournament for home-based footballers is not staged during a FIFA international window.

The Egyptians were eliminated in the qualifying competition by Morocco, who then replaced unready Kenya as hosts, creating a vacancy in the 16-team field.

Egypt were reinstated only to pull out, leaving Ethiopia and Rwanda to play each other on November 5 and 12 for a finals place.

Ethiopia and Rwanda were eliminated during the final qualifying round and the organisers said they were given a second chance as “part of a concern for fairness”.

Qualification is regional and the east will now have three representatives along with the centre and south while the west has five and the north two.

Morocco will host the Nations Championship draw in Rabat on November 17, and the tournament in Agadir, Casablanca, Marrakech and Tangier between January 12 and February 4.

Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Libya, Mauritania, Namibia, Nigeria, Sudan, Uganda and Zambia are the other qualifiers.

AFP