Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania have been selected as the joint hosts of the 2027 African Cup of Nations, meaning Nigeria and the Benin Republic have lost their candidature.
This comes after Senator John Owan Enoh, the Minister of Sports Development, and representatives of the Nigeria Football Federation travelled to Egypt on Tuesday, September 26, to submit a bid to host the AFCON in 2027.
Also revealed by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) is that Morocco will host the 2025 competition.
Morocco was selected to host the AFCON in 2015 but requested that it be postponed due to the Ebola epidemic. However, CAF eventually opted to revoke Morocco’s hosting rights. Morocco last held the tournament in 1988.
Following Algeria’s withdrawal from consideration to host the Africa Cup of Nations in 2025 or 2027, this has happened.
According to a statement from the FAF, it “sent a letter to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) informing it of its decision to withdraw its bids to host the Africa Cup of Nations” in 2025 and 2027.
For the right to host the 2025 tournament, Algeria had to contend with its neighbour to the north, Morocco, as well as Zambia and a joint bid from Nigeria and Benin.
“This withdrawal can be explained by a new approach from the FAF (Algerian Football Federation) related to its strategy for developing football in Algeria,” it said.
The Kenya-Uganda-Tanzania bid then got the nod from the CAF executive committee, taking the biennial tournament back to East Africa for the first time since Ethiopia staged the 1976 finals.
“I am very proud of Morocco,” said CAF president Patrice Motsepe after naming the successful hosts in Cairo.
“Morocco’s competing countries (for 2025 tournament) Algeria, Zambia, and Nigeria-Benin, announced their withdrawal, even if these countries still made their presentation,” he said.
“The main reason is to support Morocco in its candidacy for the 2030 World Cup,” jointly with Spain and Portugal, explained Motsepe.
Morocco has hosted multiple African and international football events with success and has a number of top-notch stadiums. The lack of international-standard grounds in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, however, compelled their national teams to compete in 2023 Cup of Nations qualifiers at neutral sites.
“One of the key objectives is that the decision that was taken today (promotes) the development of infrastructure and stadiums (and) be a source of enthusiasm among young people,” said Motsepe.
“Today, only five or six countries out of the 54 CAF members are able to apply to host the African Cup. Consequently, it will not be possible to make this alternation,” he said.
Ivory Coast will host the 2023 Cup of Nations, which has been put back to January and February 2024 due to the rainy season in west Africa.
“The timing is not ideal,” Motsepe has said, referring to the tournament falling in the middle of the European club season.
“But we could not risk the tournament being disrupted by inclement weather,” added the South African billionaire, who was appointed CAF president in 2021.
