Pulse Sports has established Kenya as fronting three stadiums, namely Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, and Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi, alongside the Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret, some 400km from the capital Nairobi as host venues.
On May 15, 2023, Kenya President William Ruto formally gave a thumbs up to the bid at State House Nairobi.
Flanked by Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba, Principal Secretary Jonathan Mueke, and Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president;
President Ruto described the bid, dubbed East African Pamoja (together) bid, as a sports project that will unite and market the three countries.
Said Ruto: “We intend to launch a compelling bid that will succeed in winning the critical opportunity to make Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania the epicenters of regional and continental footballing resurgence.”
But What’s in it for Uganda?
Even though the finer details of the bid, which is expected to be submitted to the Confederation of African Football (Caf) on May 17, 2023, remain scanty;
Pulse Sports has established Kenya as fronting three stadiums, namely Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, and Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi, alongside the Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret, some 400km from the capital Nairobi as host venues.
The training grounds include Kasarani Annex, Ulinzi Complex, and the Police Sacco stadium, all based in Nairobi.
CAF rules on hosting this tournament dictate the training facilities must have at least one dressing room equipped with 23 seats and lockers.
Also, two movable goals, floodlights with a minimum capacity of 500 LUX, and natural grass, hybrid, or artificial turf like the main stadiums have to be available.
CAF Requirements for the Bidders
As per the CAF stadium regulation edition 2022, the stadiums for competitions are classified into four categories, with AFCON, Champions League semis and final, Africa Super League, and Chan venues falling in Category 4— the highest in terms of standards.
Among other things, all stadiums must have at least 30,000 seats as per category four and must install turnstiles at all gates from the outside gates to the terrace gates along with CCTV monitors.
Padded VIP and VVIP seats separated from each other, as well as a media center, media tribune, press conference room that can host 50 media personnel, a mixed zone, photographers’ area, OB van area and VAR operation room, are the other key requirements.
Where does Uganda Stand?
In July 2022, CAF president Patrice Motsepe while on a two-day work visit, encouraged Uganda and Tanzania to have a joint 2027 AFCON bid.
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Motsepe met President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, who re-affirmed the government’s support towards sport.
“When we came into government in 1986, Uganda’s economy had collapsed,” Museveni said then.
“So our immediate intervention and mission was to revive the economy; now that the economy is doing better, we shall put more funding in sports,” he added.
Since then, the Ugandan Parliament passed a proposal to support the joint bid and with Kenya also coming into the picture; the bid now has the three East African nations.
Uganda’s Facilities
Currently, Uganda has no CAF-certified facility, with the Namboole stadium in the capital Kampala under renovations to meet the required CAF standards.
Nakivubo Stadium, which is also based in Kampala and has been under renovation since 2017, is also under scrutiny.
Its location and design make it hard for it to be classified by CAF to host any competitions.
Magogo is not worried
Despite Uganda being on the back foot amongst the three countries with facilities, Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) president Moses Magogo isn’t worried one bit.
“Fellow Ugandans, get out of the occupied mindset of negativity, AFCON hosting is awarded on plans not guarantees, not what you have,” The Budiope East legislator stated.
“President Museveni and Janet Museveni (Minister of Sports and Education) and the Parliament have already approved the guarantee to host,” Magogo added.
Magogo added that Uganda only needs one stadium to guarantee its position as AFCON co-hosts, and the government has provided the necessary funds to re-develop the Namboole stadium into a FIFA-certified facility.
“The Government has already provided Shs 97bn to rehabilitate Namboole, and we need only one more stadium. So, let us be positive and move in one direction as a country,” he tweeted.
Where is Tanzania?
Probably the nation with the most vibrant football fan base owed to the rivalry between Simba and Young Africans, Tanzania has the national stadium in Benjamin Mkapa and the Chamazi Complex, home to top-flight side Azam FC.
Renovations at the Benjamin Mkapa stadium are already underway, as it’s understood that it will host some of the CAF African Super League fixtures later this year in October.
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The stadium has hosted the CAF inter-club competitions for Simba and Young Africans this season.
The Azam Complex is also certified by CAF, but to a certain level, they, too, have hosted CAF inter-club competitions but will have to make a few adjustments to be ready.
Regarding training facilities, the Uhuru stadium, next to the Mkapa stadium, can always be improved.
The CCM Kirumba stadium in Mwanza is another stadium the Tanzanian Football Federation earmarked to renovate to CAF standards.
The stadiums in Dodoma, Arusha and Zanzibar have also been mentioned.
It should be noted that in Cameroon, the 2022 AFCON hosts used six stadiums in four cities; the cost of renovating and building new stadia along with infrastructure like hotels, airports and roads was estimated at $885m.
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