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The East African countries believe they have enough to convince CAF to hand them the hosting rights for the continental tournament
Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have set in motion plans to ensure they win their joint bid to host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.
The three countries met the April 20 deadline to send their expression of interest after which Confederation of African Football (CAF) sent back bid documents to be filled and filed by May 23.
It is from then that the three governments will jointly table their bid. Kenya joined Uganda and Tanzania in expressing an interest after Cabinet approved the country’s proposal to host the tournament alongside her East Africa neigbhours last December.
The East Africa bid received a boost after Namibia pulled out of their joint bid with Botswana just two days before the submission deadline due to cash constraints and it is not known if the latter went it alone eventually.
“The joint bid of Namibia and Botswana was an interesting bid but for what Namibia said was on financial reasons that they exited the process. We don’t want to anchor our bid on the withdrawal of any other bidder or on the position of any other interested party,” Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba told People Daily on Wednesday.
“We believe that a Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda bid is a strong bid and we believe it is about time the African Cup of Nations came to the eastern part of Africa. We are ready and determined as a country to make sure that we get it right this time.”
Infrastructure, however, remains Kenya, and Uganda’s biggest problem, given none of them have facilities that conform to CAF and FIFA standards but FKF says it is has received government’s commitment over the same.
“We are working closely with government to improve infrastructure so that the bid goes through,” Football Kenya Federation CEO Barry Otieno told Pulse Sports on Thursday.
Kasarani and Nyayo stadiums were banned by CAF from hosting international matches when they failed inspection tests in 2021 while Uganda’s Namboole was also found to be too dilapidated by the African football governing the same year.
While Kenya is in a race against time with Kasarani, there was bad news on Namboole on Wednesday when FUFA confirmed that Uganda Cranes will be forced to play June’s 2023 AFCON qualifier against Algeria in Cameroon as renovations on the stadium are way behind schedule.
The situation presents a headache for the bidding nations as they will need to speed up preparations after FUFA boss Moses Magogo recently revealed that the three countries will need a total of six stadiums and as many pitches to successfully host the tournament.
Burkina Faso, Zambia and Senegal are other countries believed to be interested in hosting the competition that is just four years away.
East Africa last hosted the tournament in 1970 in Sudan while Kenya lost the 1996 rights after being deemed ill-prepared with South Africa taking over and eventually winning it.
The tournament hosts will be known before September and announced on an occasion that will also reveal the AFCON 2025 hosts.
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