End date February 7, 2016 Teams 16 | Venue(s) 4 (in 3 host cities) Start date 2016 Best player Meschack Elia | |
 | ||
Dates 16 January – 7 February 2016 Similar 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, 2014 FIFA World Cup qualificati, 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification | ||
The 2016 African Nations Championship (also referred to as CHAN 2016) was the 4th edition of the African Nations Championship, the biennial international football championship organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for the men's national teams of Africa featuring exclusively players from their respective national leagues. The tournament was held in Rwanda between 16 January and 7 February 2016. A total of 16 teams played in the tournament.
Contents
- Qualification
- Qualified teams
- Venues
- Squads
- Draw
- Group stage
- Knockout stage
- Goalscorers
- Awards
- Final ranking
- References
This edition is the first time that all group runners-up made it into the semi-finals.
Qualification
Rwanda qualified automatically as hosts, while the remaining 15 spots were determined by the qualifying rounds, which took place from June to October 2015.
Qualified teams
The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament. Defending champions Libya failed to qualify.
Venues
Four stadiums were approved by the CAF.
Squads
Each squad could contain a maximum of 23 players. Only national team players who were playing in their country's own domestic league were eligible to compete in the tournament. For example, a Rwandan player was only eligible to play for the Rwanda national team if he was playing for a Rwandan club.
Draw
The draw for the final tournament of the competition took place on 15 November 2015 (brought forward from 18 November), 18:30 CAT (UTC+2), in Kigali, Rwanda. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four.
The teams were seeded based on their results in the three most recent final tournaments: 2009 (multiplied by 1), 2011 (multiplied by 2), and 2014 (multiplied by 3):
Based on the formula above, the four pots were allocated as follows:
Group stage
The top two teams of each group advanced to the quarter-finals.
The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers would be applied in the following order:
- Number of points obtained in games between the teams concerned;
- Goal difference in games between the teams concerned;
- Goals scored in games between the teams concerned;
- If, after applying criteria 1 to 3 to several teams, two teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the two teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 7 apply;
- Goal difference in all games;
- Goals scored in all games;
- Drawing of lots.
All times were local, CAT (UTC+2).
Knockout stage
In the knockout stage, if a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time would be played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by kicks from the penalty mark to determine the winner, except for the third place match where no extra time would be played.
Goalscorers
Below is the list of goalscorers.
Awards
Below is the list of awards.
Final ranking
Below is the final ranking.