• Caf requires Afcon hosts to have six stadiums but a source says the third stadium has been added by Tanzania and Uganda apiece so that if Kenya is not ready by 2025, they can go as a duo.
•To start with, Kenya is set to present Kasarani, Nyayo, and the Kip Keino stadium in Eldoret.
Image: STATE HOUSE KENYA
President William Ruto has announced Kenya will present their Africa Cup of Nations 2027 bid on Wednesday, marking the second big step in the nation’s dream to host the continental showpiece for the first time.
The first step was expressing official interest at the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
After Sunday’s Mashemeji derby between Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards at Nyayo Stadium, Ruto said: “I announced we want Afcon 2027 to be played here at home. On Wednesday, we’ll present our bid. I will be on the frontline until the game is played here. If we bring the game here you must win."
Kenya has a great chance to host the Africa Cup of Nations 2027 if things move with speed to beat the deadlines set by Caf.
Kenya won the bid to host Afcon in 1996 and CHAN 2018 but lost the hosting rights for both tournaments to South Africa and Rwanda respectively due to poor preparations.
Kenya is hoping to partner with neighbours Uganda and Tanzania to present what is now referred to as EAC Pamoja bid as they seek to bring the continental showpiece to East Africa for the first time in history.
Initially, Tanzania and Uganda had planned to go without Kenya but included their neighbour after Fifa lifted the country’s suspension in November 2022.
Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba has since said each of the three countries will be required to have three stadiums to host Afcon in four years' time.
“We have already notified Caf about our bid. We have already formed something called EAC Pamoja bid which will be a tag-line for the three countries. I have initiated conversations with my Tanzanian and Ugandan counterparts and we are very much on track,” Namwamba said during the launch of the Talanta Hela logo last week.
“We have already assessed Nyayo and Kasarani even though the bid requires each country to have three stadiums. We are making progress in terms of the plan to get them ready ahead of the initial visit.”
Ideally, Caf requires Afcon hosts to have six stadiums but a source says the third stadium has been added by Tanzania and Uganda apiece so that if Kenya is not ready by 2025, they can go as a duo. The three countries are also required to deposit at least Sh3bn to Caf by January 2025.
Hosting the Africa Cup of Nations requires a lot of goodwill and willingness from the host nations.
The Kenyan government will be greatly tested to see whether they can deliver on infrastructure with the tournament set to fall in the same year with the next general elections.
The previous government already failed in their promise of five world-class stadia promised during the 2013 campaigns hence the failure to stage the 2018 African Nations Championship popularly known as Chan.
As we speak, Caf are still looking for a country to host the next Chan. This would have been an ideal chance for Kenya to clean their image from the 2018 fiasco as per the source who sought anonymity.
Several meetings have already taken place with the ministers and federations from the three countries meeting in Arusha last week. Neither Namwamba nor Sports PS Jonathan Mueke attended the meeting according to the source.
As per 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.
To start with, Kenya is set to present Kasarani, Nyayo, and the Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret. A lot of work will be required on these facilities with the Eldoret Stadium set to be done afresh. These three stadiums must be accompanied by at least two training grounds.
Kasarani and Nyayo will require new seats to meet Caf standards despite the government installing new seats that cost at least Sh115m. The three stadiums will also require a new turf that’s natural grass, hybrid, or artificial turf that has been granted the required Fifa license. As it stands, no stadium in Kenya meets that requirement.
Nyayo and Kasarani can’t host night matches at the moment and will be required to have a minimum horizontal luminance of 1200-2000 lux and the floodlight must uniformly cover every area of the playing field.
“The floodlight is a critical element for the quality of high-definition TV coverage. The floodlight system should be designed to avoid glare for players and officials and to minimise shadows as much as possible,” reads the CAF regulations.
The three stadiums, required to have at least 30,000 seats as per category 4, must install turnstiles in all gates from the outside gates to the terrace entrance gates, a venue operations centre equipped with CCTV monitors, and an override capability over the public address system in the event of an emergency announcement.
Other requirements include an emergency lighting system, a public address system, giant screens, and VIP and VVIP seats that are separated from each other and padded.
In all three stadiums, there should be media-related areas that have a media centre, media tribune, press conference room that can host 50 media representatives, a mixed zone, photographers area, media facilities, OB van area, and VAR operation room.
Nyayo Stadium will also require roofing as it cannot host Category 4 matches as it is right now.
Kasarani Annex and Utalii grounds are set to be dedicated training venues for teams playing at Kasarani while Ulinzi Complex in Lang’ata and Police Sacco Stadium will support Nyayo Stadium.
Jamhuri grounds will be allocated to the referees. Two other facilities in Eldoret will be part of the bid. Eldoret is understood to have been preferred to football-mad towns like Kakamega because of the airport access.
These training facilities must have at least one dressing room equipped with 23 seats and lockers, two movable goals, floodlights with a minimum capacity of 500 LUX, and equipped with natural grass, hybrid, or artificial turf just like the main stadiums.
In the event a stadium has a player tunnel, it shall be a minimum of four (4) metres wide and a minimum of two point four (2.4) metres high as per Article 10.1 of the CAF stadium regulation 2022.
Algeria, Botswana, and Egypt are the other countries that have expressed interest to host the Africa Cup of Nations in 2027.
Algeria already hosted Chan 2023 and are currently hosting the Afcon Under 17 while Egypt hosted the Afcon finals in 2019.
The Kenya-Tanzania-Uganda bid is competing with two North African countries that are miles ahead in terms of infrastructure and don’t require to develop anything new.
Botswana was set to present a joint bid with Namibia but the latter has since pulled out thus weakening the bid.
There’s a feeling Afcon should go to East Africa as the North and West have hosted for far too long but this will depend on the willingness of the three governments to deliver.
The federations are not much involved at this stage. Their job is to lobby for support from other African federations ahead of the voting during the Caf assembly.
Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are required to submit the final bid on May 23 with Caf set to send an inspection team between June 1 and July 2023. A Caf Executive Committee decision on the bid winner is set to be announced by September when they will also announce the 2025 hosts with Morocco the favourites.