South Africa's entry into the qualifiers for the African Nations Championship (Chan) in Rwanda next year has been confirmed, but the timing of the matches will present an immediate selection headache.

If South Africa seek to field a strong side made up of home-based players, then the South African Football Association is going to need to beg reluctant clubs again to release players at a time that is not conducive to best preparations for next season.

The qualifiers will start from the weekend of June 19-21, which is just before players come back from their end-of-the-season holiday and will be rapidly completed by the end of August.

South Africa is one of 42 countries who have entered the fourth edition of the tournament.

The qualifying draw will be conducted in Cairo on Sunday and will be done on a regional basis.

Twelve of the 14 southern African countries will be chasing three spots in the finals, which means at least two rounds of qualifying.

Entered along with South Africa are Angola, Botswana, the Comoros Islands, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, the Seychelles, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Only Madagascar and Malawi have not entered from the region.

The tournament proper has been set for Rwanda from January 16 to February 7 and if South Africa qualify it is presumed the Premier Soccer League will again have a mid- season break.

South Africa were hosts of the last Chan in 2014 but flopped badly.

The country also qualified for the 2011 edition in the Sudan.