The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has dismissed speculation that the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals to be co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will be postponed.
Speaking to the media on Friday in Dar es Salaam after chairing a CAF Executive Committee meeting, president, Patrice Motsepe termed the allegations “totally unfounded.”
“The last few days I have seen a lot of media speculation that there was an allegation that I’m here to tell Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda that I’m taking Afcon because they are not ready. That is totally unfounded,” said Motsepe. He expressed confidence that the three East African countries will stage a hugely successful tournament.
Motsepe said that the tournament will neither be rescheduled, nor be taken to another country.
On September 27, 2023, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania were named co-hosts of the 36th edition of Africa’s premier football tournament. The joint “East Africa Pamoja” bid by the three countries beat those from other countries.
Although Caf has yet to announce the exact dates for the 24-nation showpiece, it is expected to be held in June and July next year.
Should the 2027 Afcon be postponed to the following year, the 2028 Afcon finals will most likely be scrapped since thereafter, the tournament will revert to a four-year cycle. The 2028 Afcon was originally planned for 2029.
Motsepe announced the changes in Afcon scheduling during a CAF Executive Committee meeting in December last year in Rabat, Morocco.
The changes would allow the first African Nations League to be held in 2029.
With less than a year to go, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have intensified preparations to co-host the 2027 Afcon – a task now made more challenging by Morocco’s successful hosting of the 2025 tournament.
In Kenya, the 60,000-seater Talanta Sports City, which has been designated as one of the match venues is nearing completion while extensive renovations of the other venues earmarked for the tournament are expected to start this February.
The venues include Moi International Sports Center, Kasarani, which has also been earmarked as the other match venues and Nyayo National Stadium which has been designated as a training ground.
In Uganda, the construction of the 20,000-seater Hoima City Stadium is complete while in Tanzania, work on Arusha Stadium is underway. The two venues are among several that the countries are preparing for the tournament.
Ahead of the Friday’s Caf Executive Committee meeting, speculation has been rife about the possible postponement of the 2027 Afcon to 2028, with The Guardian attributing this to inadequate preparations by the three host nations, and difficulties in completing the tournaments’ qualifiers due to congested calendar.