Harambee Stars, Kenya’s national football team, could clash with Morocco again in the 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN) final after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) released the official pathways to the final of the competition.

The group stage officially concluded on Tuesday, August 19, cutting the competition from 19 teams down to the final eight, with hosts Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania all making it through to the quarterfinals.

Harambee Stars survived with 10 men to come away with a shock 1-0 win over the Atlas Lions on August 10, but Morocco registered three wins out of four in the group stage, scoring two goals or above, suggesting that a second clash with Kenya will not be easy for the East Africans.

To get to the final, though, Morocco must overcome Kenya’s East African Community (EAC) rivals, Tanzania, who are dying to meet Kenya in the final in an ultimate showdown for both the CHAN 2024 trophy and bragging rights.

At first, there was a slim possibility of Kenya meeting Tanzania in the quarterfinals, but that was ruled out after Benni McCarthy’s squad defied expectations to top Group A, which included Morocco, Angola, DR Congo, and Zambia.

Kenya’s next major test comes on Friday, August 22, when they face Madagascar at Kasarani Stadium. If Harambee Stars overcome Madagascar, their semifinal opponents will be either Algeria or Sudan, who meet in the other quarterfinal.

Algeria will prove to be another test for Kenya, though their form is less appealing compared to Morocco, with just one win in the group stage against Uganda and draws against Niger, South Africa and Guinea.

Tanzania, on the other hand, are in a different bracket and will face Morocco. A win against the Atlas Lions would set up a semifinal against either Uganda or Senegal. Given CAF’s team allocations, the only scenario where Kenya and Tanzania could clash in CHAN 2024 is in the final.

Kenya’s tie against Madagascar could also mark McCarthy’s last match in the country, since no semifinal is scheduled to be played on Kenyan soil. Kasarani Stadium, which has staged all of Kenya’s group fixtures, will host the final on August 30.

Meanwhile, Uganda, the third East African co-host, are set to face Senegal on Saturday, August 23, at Nelson Mandela Stadium, while Sudan takes on Algeria at Zanzibar’s Amaan Stadium.

For the Kenya-Madagascar clash, the government announced that fan zones would be set up for supporters who missed out on tickets.

Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya encouraged those with tickets to turn up in large numbers, though he stopped short of clarifying whether CAF’s restriction capping attendance at 27,000 was still being enforced.

The matter of tickets is another story after Mookh, CHAN’s official ticketing partner for Kenya, reported that its ticketing portal crashed minutes after sales for Kenya-Madagascar went live on Tuesday.

As it stands, the portal had functioned in bits as of last night, with fans reporting making payments for their tickets but yet to receive official confirmation, including the digital ticket itself.