The Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Dr. Patrice Motsepe has backed Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to co-host one of the most successful 2024 Africa Nations Championships (CHAN) tournament in February 2025.
There have been fears that Kenya could be stripped off their hosting rights following their unpreparedness with the African body giving them a deadline of December 31st to meet the requirements.
However, after touring the venues under renovation, Motsepe admitted to being satisfied with the progress the East African nation was making and further revealed that his next visit to Kenya will be for the CHAN tournament.
“I leave Kenya with even more confidence and even more excitement that indeed there is a huge progress and there is a huge undertaking (from the government), of course there are challenges all over the world even when hosting the FIFA World Cup, the organisers face challenges, but for now, I am confident the next time I will be here in Kenya will be for the CHAN,” Motsepe told Flashscore.
“We have seen enormous progress, huge progress, it is amazing, I visited Kasarani and the training pitches that have been listed for use and we have seen enormous progress, I am confident that we will have the most exciting tournament here in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.”
Motsepe continued: “There will be 19 nations, who will take part in the tournament from all over the continent and media from all over Africa will be here, and Africa football is watched all over the world, we are going to have the most successful CHAN in the history of the tournament.”
Motsepe concluded: “With this level of commitment from the government, to make sure that the stadium, infrastructure are ready for February, I have all the confidence in the world that the preparation for the CHAN will be very successful.”
Before touring Kenya, Motsepe’s visit started in Tanzania where he toured Benjamin Mkapa Stadium. He admitted Tanzania had also made progress and were on course to stage the tournament, which is exclusively for players, who compete in their respective national league competitions.
“I was in Tanzania and was pleased, very impressed with the enormous progress, and today I want to express my gratitude to Kenya for the excellent work they have been doing led by President William Ruto and the last time I said I had total confident and the trust that Ruto will deliver the CHAN for Kenyans,”explained Motsepe.
Kenya pulling all the stops to be ready
Earlier on Friday, Motsepe paid a courtesy call to Kenya President William Ruto, who assured CAF of the country’s commitment to be ready for the tournament.
“Kenya is pulling all the stops to be ready to host the African Nations Championships (CHAN) in February 2025. Consequently, renovations at Moi Sports Centre Kasarani and Nyayo Stadium are progressing according to plan,” said the Head of State in a statement.
“Ulinzi Sports Complex and Police Sacco Stadium in Nairobi, and Kirigiti Stadium (Kiambu), which will be used for training ahead of CHAN, are also under renovation and will be ready ahead of the championships.”
Apart from Motsepe, others who attended the meeting at State House Nairobi include CAF Fourth Vice-President Seidou Mbombo Njoya and Secretary-General Veron Mosengo-Omba. Also present were Federation of Kenya Football (FKF) President Hussein Mohamed, Vice-President McDonald Mariga and CHAN/AFCON Head of Secretariat Mike Rabar.
The 2024 CHAN tournament will be the eighth edition and the third time that it is hosted in the CECAFA Zone after Sudan in 2011 and Rwanda in 2016.
Kenya is among the African nations that staged their 2026 AFCON qualifiers away from home owing to lack of a stadium. They played all their Group J matches in South Africa and Uganda. Harambee Stars failed to qualify for a seventh appearance at the 35th edition of the tournament after finishing third with Cameroonand Zimbabwe qualifying for the Moroccotournament.
The DR Congo and Morocco are the most successful teams in this tournament with two titles each, followed by Tunisia, Libya and incumbent champions Senegal with one title each. The tournament began life in 2009 with eight teams, which was doubled for the 2nd edition up until the 6th and is currently contested by 18 teams since the 2022 edition.
Since the 2014 edition, matches of every edition of this tournament from qualification to the final are computed to calculate the forthcoming FIFA World Rankings following its conclusion, which CAF exclaimed as an important step for the competition's development.
At the time, FIFA considered the tournament friendly since it is restricted to players from local leagues to participate. The tournament is held biennially and alternates with the Africa Cup of Nations.
