AFCON 2027: Ababu inspects Nyayo, Kasarani ahead of CAF assessors tour

In a bid to boost the preparedness to the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2027, Kenya through the Ministry of Sports has kicked off its campaign of ensuring that sporting infrastructure in the country fits the bill.

Kenya in May submitted her bid to host the biggest football tournament in conjunction with Uganda and Tanzania - dubbed ‘East Africa Pamoja’ and has since embarked on aligning to meet Confederation of African Football standards.

Speaking on Friday when he toured the Nyayo National stadium alongside the Nairobi University technical department which was given the mandate to survey Nyayo and Kasarani stadiums, Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba conceded a lot has to be done for Kenya meet the criteria of hosting the continental showpiece.

“Lighting is a big issue at Kasarani and the light system is outdated. We will update the lightening system to fit the required standards,” said Ababu, among other several areas to be addressed.

Sports Kenya coordinator Pius Metto has said that they will work hand in hand with the ministry ensure the proposals to upgrade of the stadiums are well taken care of.

“We have seen the places that have been identified, and we are going to tender this work to commence in the next financial year next month. I’m sure that all shall be well as we are optimistic that the Cecafa region will be given the rights to host the biggest football tournament in Africa come 2027,” said Metto.

Namwamba revealed that they are expecting to host a CAF contingent in July 2023, coming to evaluate three main stadiums proposed to host the showpiece.

“We are a FIFA contingent next month and it’s our hope that we move with speed to ensure the sports facilities are upgraded. I don’t want to jump the gun because the University of Nairobi team is here and it’s a much powered team with very experienced architects, civil works engineers, electrical engineers as well as quantity surveyors, and I’m sure that good work will be done.”

Kenya will need to construct almost from zero the third main stadium for the AFCON business, apart from Kasarani and Nyayo.

At the time of recording this account, only Tanzania among the three joint-bidders has a stadium ready to host a match of AFCON caliber, the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam.

Botswana is also in the race to host the tournament, as well as Algeria and Egypt.

While Botswana has a daunting task of building stadia from scratch to meet the demands of the 24-nation football fiesta, Egypt is ready – having hosted the expanded tournament in 2019.

Algeria hosted the 2023 CHAN event, the second tier version of AFCON involving the African local leagues players only, and would need lesser preparations to host the 2027 event.

Ababu is however hopeful that the 'East Africa Pamoja' bid will be successful.