Kenya stands in the risk of loosing the co-hosting rights of the 2025 Africa Home Nations Championships (CHAN), scheduled for February due to delays in completing the renovations and reconstruction of stadiums to host the tournament alongside neighbors Uganda and Tanzania.
Kenya is set to lose the rights to host CHAN to Rwanda, according to reports which also indicate that if Kenya fails to host CHAN, there is a big possibility that the country will also loose the hosting rights of the 2027 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) with reports from CAF indicating that there is a 90 percent possibility of loosing AFCON.
CAF has has indicated that Nyayo Stadium is only 10% complete, while Kasarani Stadium is 30% ready whereas Kenya has a 31st December deadline to complete the stadiums for hosting the competition.
The Ulinzi Sports Complex, which is one of the designated training grounds for the tournament is nearing completion and could beat the deadline but Police Sacco stadium, which is the other training ground for matches that will be playing at Nyayo is significantly behind schedule and all indications point at Kenya failing to beat the December 31 deadline.
Kenya is under pressure to meet the requirements to co-host the 2025 CHAN, a tournament, exclusively for locally-based players which will feature 19 teams, with Kenya set to partner with Uganda and Tanzania as co-hosts but now, Kenya faces the risk of loosing the hosting rights to Rwanda, which already has existing infrastructure.
The TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (CHAN) is a biennial African association football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football and CAF has set an inspection deadline for Kenya to have completed the construction of Kasarani and Nyayo stadiums by December 31, 2024.
The Kenyan government yesterday, Saturday December 7, 2024 gazetted a multi-agency team that is supposed to oversee Kenya’s preparations to co-host CHAN and 2027 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournaments with Tanzania and Uganda.
Cabinet Secretary for Youth, Creative Economy and Sports Kipchumba Murkomen appointed the “Pamoja CHAN 2024 and Pamoja Afcon 2027 Multi-Agency Team”, but the key area of stadiums completion remain a major doubt which could well be a pipe dream even as the minister remains active in the national political debates.
If Kenya is not able to complete the renovations by the deadline date, CAF has indicated that Rwanda will co-host the delayed 2024 CHAN with Uganda and Tanzania from 1 to 28 February 2025 while Kenya will miss out again like the country missed in 2019 when the tournament had to be moved to Cameroon.
Further, with the Football Kenya Federation having a change of leadership just when Kenya is about to host the major tournament, it could be a done deal that Kenya will miss out as the intricacies at CAF and FIFA often require a federation president who has struck a rapport with the CAF honchos to smoothen the processes of hosting the continental tournament meaning Kenya could sit on the fence for long before having a chance to host a CAF competition.
