AFCON 2027: East Africa races to get tournament-ready

The tournament, scheduled for June 19 to July 17, 2027, will be the first Africa Cup of Nations jointly hosted by three countries and the competition’s return to East Africa since Ethiopia staged the finals in 1976.

A Confederation of African Football (CAF) delegation spent eight days inspecting facilities across the three host countries earlier this month, assessing stadiums, training grounds, hotels, airports and other infrastructure. The delegation included officials responsible for competitions, safety and security, transport, media, television and logistics.

In Kenya, the biggest project is the newly built Talanta Sports International Stadium in Nairobi.

The 60,000-capacity stadium is intended to be the country’s flagship AFCON venue and was inspected by CAF earlier this month. During a subsequent visit, CAF President Patrice Motsepe said he was impressed by the progress at Talanta. He also visited Kasarani Stadium, where work remains to be completed.

But Kenya’s preparations extend well beyond its new flagship stadium.

CAF’s inspection also covered training venues, hotels, airport infrastructure and other sites supporting the Nairobi tournament operation.

Nicholus Musonye, chairman of Kenya’s AFCON 2027 Local Organising Committee, told Al Jazeera that the country was addressing the outstanding requirements.

“I want to assure Africa, and I want to assure the world, that Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, we are ready to host AFCON,” Musonye said.

He said work on Kasarani’s pitch should be completed by the end of October, with the venue planned to be ready for handover in December.

But concerns remain about some of the facilities that will support the tournament.

Kelvin Kimaru, a Kenyan football fan, told Al Jazeera that training grounds remained a concern.

“We are not yet ready because the training grounds for the coming teams are not yet ready,” Kimaru said.

Moses Kamalik, an executive member of the Boxing Federation of Kenya, said other venues also needed work, including Nyayo Stadium and Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret.

The challenge for Kenya is broader than completing Talanta; it needs a network of match venues, training grounds and supporting facilities capable of operating together when teams and supporters arrive.

Tanzania is also entering the final stretch, with preparations covering stadiums, training grounds and the infrastructure connecting them.

Neema Msitha, chief executive of the country’s AFCON 2027 Local Organising Committee, told Al Jazeera that the country’s stadiums were more than 80 percent complete on average and expected to be ready for handover to CAF in January.

“All these stadiums are almost ready. If you grade them on average, all of them are almost above 80 percent,” Msitha said.

Training facilities are being developed alongside the main venues, with five facilities being prepared in each host location. Msitha said they were about 75 percent complete.

In August, Prime Minister Mwigulu Nchemba ordered work on AFCON training grounds to speed up, saying the facilities needed to be completed on time and meet CAF standards. He issued the directive after inspecting the Farasi and Leaders Club training grounds in Dar-es-Salaam.

Road infrastructure is also part of the preparations. In June, Works Minister Abdallah Ulega ordered contractors working on roads linked to the tournament in Arusha to operate around the clock to meet deadlines and international standards.

Msitha pointed to regional airlines, Air Tanzania and ferry services between Dar-es-Salaam and Zanzibar as part of the transport arrangements being developed for teams, officials and supporters.

CAF’s September inspection included Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar-es-Salaam and other key facilities in Tanzania as the governing body continued to assess preparations across the three hosts.

Uganda is working towards the same year-end push.

Patrick Ogwel, a CAF infrastructure monitoring officer, told Al Jazeera that infrastructure development was expected to be ready by December 31.

Hoima City Stadium has been completed and commissioned, he said, while Akii-Bua Olympic Stadium in Lira is due to be completed and commissioned by December.

Uganda’s Local Organising Committee has identified Akii-Bua, Hoima City Stadium and Mandela National Stadium as its three main stadiums. It expects 10 of the country’s 12 training facilities to be ready by the end of the year.

The organising committee said after CAF’s latest inspection that all three stadiums remained on course for completion by the end of December, while some training facilities were planned to be completed in January 2027.

But the deadlines are not without pressure.

On September 24, Uganda’s State Minister for Sports Peter Ogwang directed the Uganda People’s Defence Forces to accelerate work on several AFCON training facilities, citing concerns about the pace of construction at sites including Pece Stadium in Gulu, Lira and Gulu University.

After its September inspection, the CAF delegation also briefed President Yoweri Museveni, with challenges outside Kampala among the issues raised during the assessment.

The coming months will test whether the three hosts can turn construction progress into a functioning tournament operation.

AFCON requires stadiums and training grounds that can handle teams and spectators while meeting requirements for broadcasting, media, security, transport, hospitality and match operations.

A completed stadium is only one part of the equation.

But AFCON will be a larger undertaking, with 24 national teams competing across the three countries for almost a month.

The coming months will determine whether the work under way across the three countries can be completed, verified and brought into operation before teams and supporters begin arriving.

For supporters in East Africa, the tournament represents more than a test of stadiums and infrastructure. It is also a chance to experience Africa’s biggest national-team competition on home soil.

Gilbert Okeya, a Kenyan football fan and Football Kenya Federation referee, told Al Jazeera:

“We are happy because we are going to host, and we are going to have an opportunity to have live matches for AFCON in our country.”