Three East African neighbours, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are set to bid as host for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.
According to BBC, the three nations have submitted a joint expression of interest with the governing body that organises the biennial tournament, Confederation of African Football.
Three other nations have also registered interest, namely: Algeria, Botswana and Egypt.
Egypt hosted AFCON 2019, while earlier this year Algeria hosted the African Nations Championship (Chan) — the pan-continental tournament for locally-based players — a strong indicator that these two countries are very likely to win the bid when it comes to infrastructure requirements.
However, it is unclear how much investment will be needed to allow either Botswana’s or the joint East African bid to succeed.
AFCON 2023, which is to be hosted by Cote d’Ivoire, and sponsored by TotalEnergies, has its dates officially confirmed by CAF, with the opening match scheduled to take place on Saturday, 13 January 2024 at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Ebimpe, Abidjan.
Meanwhile, the qualifiers for the tournament are still ongoing, as fixtures have been scheduled to take place from 28 March 2023, 12-20 June 2023 and 4-12 September 2023.
In Group A, Nigeria and Guinea Bissau are currently the top two teams with 9 and 7 points, respectively, after four matches.
Until last week, Botswana’s bid for the AFCON 2027 was also due to be a joint one, but Namibia dropped out at the last minute, citing financial concerns.
With Kenya, they have just one stadium approved for international games by CAF, the Nyayo National Stadium in its capital Nairobi, in fact, the country was stripped of the right to host the 2018 Chan just four months before the finals because several venues were not ready.
The four bids (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Botswana) now have until 23 May to submit final official plans before inspection visits in June and July.
CAF is yet to decide the host of the AFCON 2025, having stripped Guinea of the right in October 2022, due to insufficient preparation.
