The Guardian of London is reporting that CAF may now be forced to cancel next year’s AFCON by pushing it to 2028.
The Guardian reported that the 2027 AFCON could be postponed until 2028 owing to doubts over the readiness of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to host the tournament, in a move that would lead the Confederation of African Football to scrap one edition of their showpiece competition.
The Guardian understands that CAF Executive Committee will discuss the proposal when they meet in Dar es Salaam tomorrow, with Morocco’s expected withdrawal as hosts for next month’s Women’s AFCON also high on the agenda.
In December, CAF President Patrice Motsepe, announced AFCON would be staged every four years instead of every two years, and said the 2027 tournament would take place in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, with the 2029 edition brought forward to 2028.
Despite rumoured interest from South Africa and Botswana in jointly hosting that 2028 tournament, there is growing expectation that the 2027 edition will be pushed back 12 months.
According to several sources in the CAF Executive, there are major concerns over the infrastructure in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and their ability to cope with a 24-team tournament due to be spread over 10 cities.
Last August there were challenges including ticketing and security measures around the stadiums in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda that hosted the Africa Nations Championships (CHAN) for domestic-based players.
There are also understood to be issues with finding time in the international calendar to complete the qualification given the potential involvement of 10 African teams at this year’s World Cup.
CAF did not comment on any of the claims.
Any postponement would mean scrapping the tournament scheduled for 2028, for which Ethiopia had signaled theri intention to rival a South Africa-Botswana bid.
That would allow CAF to introduce their plan for a first African Nations League to take place in 2029. They want that to replace the biennial AFCON and CHAN as their main source of income.
Last month Motsepe insisted that the 2027 tournament would go ahead.
“I have a duty to develop football all over Africa,” he said. “I can’t have competitions only in those four countries where you’ve got the infrastructure. You’ve got to create opportunities for the other countries to build infrastructure as well. I’m confident that the Afcon in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda will be enormously successful.”
There is also confusion over the Women’s AFCON due to start on March 17 after South Africa said they were ready to step in if required after Morocco apparently indicated it could no longer stage the tournament.
Neither the Moroccan football federation nor CAF have confirmed that the tournament will be moved, with a decision expected at tomorrow’s Executive meeting.
