Eritrea has withdrawn from the CHAN 2025 tournament, a local radio reported over the weekend, citing Confederation of African Football (CAF) as saying.
According to the report, Eritrea and Ethiopia were scheduled to have a CHAN2024 qualifier game in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, on October 31. A return match was scheduled to take place on November 3, 2024.
The game is now canceled after Eritrea announced its withdrawal from the qualifier game which means that it is also withdrawing from the CHAN 2025 tournament. Three East African countries – Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda will be hosting it in February next year.
Eye Radio’s report, which cited the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Ethiopia will be playing, following the withdrawal of Eritrea, against Sudan or Tanzania in the final qualification round.
The relation between Eritrea and Ethiopia has been deteriorating since the Pretoria Agreement which ended the war between the Federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) for reasons clearly unspecified.
Recently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia denied it saying “nothing has changed†in the relation between the two countries.
However, there is no indication if Eritrea’s recent withdrawal from CHAN2024 is related to the decline in the relation between the two countries.
Eritrea has a history of withdrawing from soccer tournaments.
“Eritrea has consistently withdrawn from various tournaments, including the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and more recently to the 2026 World Cup qualifiers due to concerns over player defections.â€
In 2019, seven members of Eritrea’s national team defected after a game in Uganda. In 2015, ten Eritrean players sought a political asylum in Botswana.
Eritrea’s Ministry of Information has not yet remarked about its latest decision to withdraw the national team from the tournament.
MG/as/APA
