Hours after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) approved the bid by three East African countries to host the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in 2027, President Yoweri Museveni has hailed the move, saying this will boost the region’s tourism sector.
Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania will jointly host the continent’s top football completion after beating several other bidders to grab the coveted opportunity.
“I received good news that our joint bid with Kenya and Tanzania to host the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in 2027 was successful. I thank the organizers for putting up a good case for East Africa,” Museveni said.
“This will promote our countries and positively impact our economies, especially the tourism sector,” the head of state added.
A statement from CAF earlier said they had awarded AFCON 2025 to Morocco and the AFCON 2027 to Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
“In awarding the AFCON 2025 and the AFCON 2027, CAF took into account the extensive Reports of the Independent Assessment Committees which visited and assessed the Bidding Countries,” the statement by CAF said.
“The Independent Assessment Committee for AFCON 2025 was Roland Berger and PricewaterhouseCoopers (“PwC”) was the Independent Assessment Committee for AFCON 2027,” CAF added.
The President of CAF Dr Patrice Motsepe said their executive committee was impressed by the quality of the presentations by the bidding countries and the reports of Roland Berger and PWC.
“We want to congratulate Morocco and Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and we are confident that they will fulfil the very high standards that we have set for hosting a successful and world-class AFCON Competition,” Motsepe said.
“I am also pleased that our commitment to enable each of the 6 CAF Zonal Unions to host the AFCON Competition is being implemented by the AFCON 2027 being awarded to Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda which are part of the CECAFA Zone. This Zone last hosted the AFCON Competition in 1976 when it was awarded to Ethiopia,” he added.
The CAF Secretariat led by Mr Véron Mosengo-Omba will be visiting Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to discuss and ensure that the commitments and undertakings that were made by the AFCON hosting Countries are being adhered to, CAF said.
