Uganda Cranes has been drawn into Group C alongside Niger, Guinea, and two yet-to-be-determined teams for the CAF TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (CHAN). The draw was conducted at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi, Kenya, shortly after CAF announced the tournament’s postponement.

Originally slated for February 1–28, 2025, CHAN has been rescheduled to August 2025 to allow host nations additional time to finalize preparations following reports of insufficient readiness. CHAN is a unique competition exclusively featuring Africa’s top national teams, composed of players actively competing in domestic leagues during the ongoing season. Uganda’s Group C opponents include West African powerhouses Niger and Guinea, as well as two teams to be decided through qualifiers.

These teams will emerge from matches involving Algeria, South Africa, Comoros, Egypt, The Gambia, and Gabon. The other groups are as follows: Group A consists of Morocco, Angola, DR Congo, and Zambia. Group B features Tanzania, Madagascar, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic. Group D includes defending champions Senegal, Congo, Sudan, and Nigeria.

This will mark Uganda Cranes’ seventh consecutive appearance at CHAN after participating in the 2011, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022 editions. Despite consistently qualifying, Uganda Cranes has fallen short of expectations in the final tournaments, failing to advance beyond the group stage. Over their previous appearances, the team has scored just 13 goals while conceding 27—a disappointing record that remains a concern for the team, currently coached by Belgian Joseph Paul Put.

In the last edition (2022), Uganda’s campaign ended painfully after a 3-1 loss to Ivory Coast at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algeria. Uganda needed only a draw to progress to the knockout stage but exited despite holding a four-point advantage going into the match.

This result, however, marked a slight improvement from their 2020 performance, where Uganda earned just one point. In that edition, the team lost 5-2 to Morocco, drew 0-0 with Rwanda, and fell 2-1 to Togo in their group matches. Uganda Cranes now faces an uphill task to break their group-stage curse in the upcoming 2025 tournament.