Nigeria Loses On Hosting AFCON 2027; See Hosts

Nigeria has lost its combined candidacy with the Benin Republic to host the 2027 African Cup of Nations, with Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania appointed joint hosts.

This comes as the Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh, and representatives of the Nigeria Football Federation travelled to Egypt on Tuesday, September 26, to bid for the hosting of AFCON 2027.

Morocco will host the 2025 edition, according to the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

Morocco last hosted the AFCON in 1988 and was picked in 2015, but asked for the event to be postponed due to the Ebola epidemic, despite CAF later deciding to strip the North African country of the hosting rights.

This follows Algeria’s withdrawal from consideration to host the Africa Cup of Nations in either 2025 or 2027.

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The FAF said in a statement that it had “sent a letter to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) informing it of its decision to withdraw its bids to host the Africa Cup of Nations” in 2025 and 2027.

Algeria was set to compete in the 2025 tournament with its North African neighbour Morocco, as well as Zambia and a joint Nigeria-Benin candidacy.

“This withdrawal can be explained by a new approach from the FAF (Algerian Football Federation) related to its strategy for developing football in Algeria,” it said.

The CAF executive committee then approved the Kenya-Uganda-Tanzania candidacy, bringing the biannual event back to East Africa for the first time since Ethiopia hosted the finals in 1976.

“I am very proud of Morocco,” said CAF president Patrice Motsepe after naming the successful hosts in Cairo.

“Morocco’s competing countries (for the 2025 tournament) Algeria, Zambia, and Nigeria-Benin, announced their withdrawal, even if these countries still made their presentation,” he said.

“The main reason is to support Morocco in its candidacy for the 2030 World Cup,” jointly with Spain and Portugal, explained Motsepe.

Morocco has many world-class stadiums and has hosted various African and international football competitions. However, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda each have only one international-standard site, forcing their national teams to play 2023 Cup of Nations qualifiers in neutral venues.

“One of the key objectives is that the decision that was taken today (promotes) the development of infrastructure and stadiums (and) be a source of enthusiasm among young people,” said Motsepe.

“Today, only five or six countries out of the 54 CAF members are able to apply to host the African Cup. Consequently, it will not be possible to make this alternation,” he said.

The Ivory Coast will host the 2023 Cup of Nations, which has been pushed back to January and February 2024 due to West Africa’s rainy season.

“The timing is not ideal,” Motsepe has said, referring to the tournament falling in the middle of the European club season.

“But we could not risk the tournament being disrupted by inclement weather,” added the South African billionaire, who was appointed CAF president in 2021.