By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has announced that 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) will take place in June and July next year, and to be jointly hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
Caf’s executive committee met in Dar es Salaam on Friday.
The announcement comes amid major concerns over the infrastructure in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and their ability to cope with a 24-team tournament due to be spread over 10 cities.
Last August there were challenges including ticketing and security measures around the stadiums in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda that hosted the Africa Nations Championships (Chan) for domestic-based players.
“The Afcon next year in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda is going to be enormously successful,” CAF president Patrice Motsepe said.
“I am enormously confident. There are always challenges.
“We have to believe in ourselves as Africans and believe in our people. The quality of people we have who lead African football are world class.”
Motsepe was speaking at a news conference after a meeting of Caf’s executive committee in Dar es Salaam, and an inspection of facilities and infrastructure in the three host nations by officials from the continent’s governing body will run until Tuesday.
Caf made a commitment to host Afcon mid-year from 2019 onwards, but the past three editions have been played in a January-February or December-January slot.
The precise dates of the 2027 Afcon will be announced in due course, Motsepe added.
The Caf president did not give an update on bids to host the 2028 finals, but said he hoped to expand Afcon from 24 to 28 teams in the future.
Motsepe also said Caf “still have an engagement” with Morocco to host the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon), which is scheduled to kick off on 17 March.