Kenya Wins Bid To Host Joint 2027 AFCON
By winning the bid, the three East African countries will host the tournament for the first time in East and Central Africa.
admin
Kenya has won the joint bid to host the 2027 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) alongside Tanzania and Uganda.
The three countries submitted a joint bid under the “Pamoja” bid to host the biggest football tournament in Africa and defeated the likes of Senegal, Botswana, and Egypt.
By winning the bid, the three East African countries will host the tournament for the first time in East and Central Africa.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe unveiled the 2027 AFCON hosts in Cairo on September 27, 2023. /X
The tournament is hosted bi-annually, and is planned and funded by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), a continental football governing body.
During the event, Kenya was represented by Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba and the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Nick Mwendwa.
Morocco defeated Zambia and a joint bid from Benin and Nigeria to win the hosting rights of the 35th edition in 2025. Algeria had withdrawn their bid to host either the 2025 or 2027 finals on the eve of the vote.
Kenya, which got the nod from CAF to host the 1996 showpiece and the hosting rights were later handed to South Africa, joined hands with neighbours Tanzania and Uganda in May for the joint bid.
"We are very strict on the requirements that we are placing on these countries in terms of the movement of people, support and infrastructure the cooperation. We will be sending our teams to form an evaluation of our progress," the CAF president stated regarding the stiff competition by the three countries which even involved the three Heads of State.
Nonetheless, he noted that the hosting rights will come with a lot of demands including the entry of fans to the host countries.
The Kenyan government will be required to have stadiums that meet the required standards ahead of time and demonstrate that its transport infrastructure will be able to handle the human traffic that will be flying into the country for the highly-anticipated tournament.
Kenya will also be required to have adequate accommodation facilities to host the teams, technical staff, delegates, VIPs and visitors.
The successful bid means the Ministry of Sports commences plans to revamp three stadiums to meet international standards including Kasarani Stadium, Nyayo Stadium, and Kipchoge Keino Stadium (Eldoret) respectively.
The government is also planning to build the Talanta Stadium at the Jamhuri Sports Grounds in Nairobi, a football-rugby-only stadium with a sitting capacity of 50,000.
The Construction of the new multi-billion Talanta Stadium and the renovation works on these three historical stadiums will be handled by the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF).
The government, following the announcement, faces a tall order of avoiding a scenario in which it can be stripped of its hosting rights, as was the case in the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN) owing to substandard infrastructure.
