NAIROBI, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan football has been dealt another blow after the Confederation of African Football excluded the country from the newly introduced Africa Nations Championships set for Cote d'Ivoire next year, the Daily Nation newspaper reported Friday.

    Coming just a fortnight after Kenya's Tusker club were dismissed from the Africa Champions League, after the Kenya Football Federation's failure to pay a 450,000 shilling (about 6,400 U.S. dollars) debt to CAF, the exclusion of Kenya from the Nations Championships has already created fears Kenya could also be locked out of the qualifiers for the 2010 Africa Nations Cup.

    The new tournament is a continental showcase like the African Nations Cup, the difference being that only local-based players are eligible.

    Thirty countries have been included in the preliminary round of the Championships. Eight teams including the hosts will play in the inaugural tournament next year.

    CAF has divided the qualifiers into zones -- North zone with teams from North Africa, West A and B Zone with teams from the west of the continent, Central Zone, Southern Zone and Central East, where Kenya was expected to play.

    Also excluded are Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. On Thursday, KFF secretary-general Sammy Obingo said he was following up the matter.

    Obingo said he would be writing to CAF to seek clarification on Kenya's exclusion.

    "We had informed CAF on our intention to participate in the tournament and they had responded by sending us rules of the tournament and other details. How Kenya has been excluded is a shock to me," said Obingo

    Interestingly, several Kenyan referees have been invited to officiate in the qualifiers to the tournament.

    KFF has accused Caf of waging a cold war against it for campaigning against its president, Issa Hayatou, four years ago during the world soccer governing body, FIFA elections when he challenged Sepp Blatter.