The race is on high gear for East Africa to host the African Cup of Nations 2027. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania want to host the biggest football tournament on the continent which will be the first time in the history of the cup.
The project dubbed ‘Pamoja,’ means together in Swahili.
The fire to host the tournament was sparked in the 2019 series, when for the first time ever, four East African nations, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi qualified together for the biannual tournament.
Now the countries are in high level talks to put things in place and present a joint bid and hoping for a possibility to bring the cup home.
On Monday Kenya’s sports minister presented the president their roadmap for the joint bid which will be presented to Confederation of African Football (CAF), for consideration.
Kenyan President William Ruto expressed optimism that hosting the cup will be a big boost to their countries’ sports sector.
“We hope that our joint bid will motivate all our sides not only to qualify for the 2027 tournament, but also excel beyond previous achievements,” added the President at the presentation.
Meanwhile Tanzania has been holding high level meetings in the city of Arusha for the last week with football stakeholders to get things ready on their side.
Analysts say hosting the tournament will benefit sports in the region by bringing together players and fans alike and building on the football relations across the borders.
Saleh Jembe, a sports analyst in Tanzania told TRT Afrika, "Our region is still very weak in football, compared to West Africa and the North. This will help us get more investments and boost our football confidence at team, club and country levels, as well as the whole region.’’
"Hosting this competition will get our players spotted, scouted and even taken to play for bigger clubs in Africa and beyond,’’ he added.
CAF has set 23 May as the deadline for interested countries to present their bids to host the cup.
The other countries competing for the honors are Botswana, Egypt and Algeria who are the current hosts of the African Cup of Nations under 17th edition.
