By Barney Cullum

Ghana coach Claude LeRoy is happy with the new Caf tournament

Ghana coach Claude LeRoy says he will use the African Nations Championship (Chan) to fast-track players into the senior Black Stars team.

The new competition organised by Caf is meant exclusively for players who ply their trade in the domestic leagues of their countries.

The first round of qualifiers for next year's inaugural tournament commence this weekend.

The Frenchman rushed back from Ghana's friendly defeat to Mexico in London on Wednesday to watch the local Black Stars play Niger in Tamale.

"I called up 41 local based players to a training camp because there is a lot of talent within the country and I wanted to see as many of them as possible," LeRoy said.

"I brought two Asante Kotoko players into the first-team squad from that but there are plenty more that can step up.

"The local team must help the first team so you will see that the average age for our players in this competition will be about 21 and we will not select any players over 24-years-old."

LeRoy has called the innovative tournament the "perfect solution" for African football in a climate where the continent's Europe-based stars are flourishing but domestic based players are often overlooked for international call-ups and league standards trail behind.

Caf's new competition has enjoyed little fanfare so far but the veteran French coach is evidently taking Chan very seriously to develop Ghana's young domestic talent.

"I have been calling for a tournament like this to bring through local players since I was first with Cameroon in the 1980," he added.

Twenty-two countries are involved in the preliminary rounds of the competition this weekend with eight teams having secured byes into the second round at the qualifying draw in Accra earlier this year.

The participating countries are drawn into six zones based on their geographical location.

One team will qualify from each zone for the finals with the exception of the Southern Zone, which has two teams.

Ivory Coast qualify automatically as hosts.

Fixtures for this weekend:

Libya vs Tunisia
Gambia vs Mauritania
Ghana vs Niger
Togo vs Benin
Central Africa Rep. vs Gabon
Congo vs Chad
Rwanda vs Burundi
Kenya vs Tanzania
Eritrea vs Uganda
Malawi vs Mozambique
Swaziland vs Zambia