Uganda FA president Moses Magogo reveals reasons why East Africa will win AFCON 2027 bid

FUFA President Moses Magogo addressing a press conference | Photo Credit: Courtesy

Uganda FA president Moses Magogo reveals reasons why East Africa will win AFCON 2027 bid

Mark Kinyanjui 18:33 - 15.09.2023

Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania are in a race with Algeria and Egypt to win the 2027 AFCON bid and Magogo has revealed the reasons the three East African countries will win.

Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) president Moses Magogo is optimistic East Africa will fend off competition from Algeria and Egypt to win the hosting rights for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

Speaking at the two-day Africa Football Business Summit held in Nairobi, Magogo believes that the three nations will be ready to host the tournament in time should they win the bid to host the tournament.

“I believe we will still have enough time. The day it is decided that East Africa should host or will host the AFCON, there is still a lot of time, it will be different,” Magogo said.

Magogo says that the goodwill from the presidents of all three nations will enable preparations to move swiftly, hinting that three is better than one.

“The other bidders are talking about constructing stadiums, we are saying we have the infrastructure, we only need to (stick to timelines).

“As we talk about tenders and rehabilitations, these are things that can be done. We have the good will of the president of Uganda, we have the good will of the president of Kenya and we have the good will of the president of Tanzania.”

The politician and football administrator believes that Algeria poses no threat to the bid, as they could win the 2025 bid anyway.

“If you have the goodwill of all the three presidents who are talking at their level, for me, the day we get the bid, and the bid is awarded on plan, they are not awarded on actuals because even the other bidders do not have the stadiums, maybe apart from Algeria which has already hosted a number of these competitions- and anyway, they will either host the 2025 competition or Morocco-, and Africa should be moving these competitions to different parts of Africa.

“ I want to rule out Algeria on the basis that they are either going to have it or their neighbors will have had it (in 2025).”

Kenya are yet to commence renovations of two of the stadia proposed to host the tournament in 2027, but Magogo has no reason to worry.

“We therefore should not worry about the current status. I believe rehabilitation will be done on time. We will not reconstruct Nyayo, we will not reconstruct Kasarani. All we need is to put it right and we are supposed to be ready by January 2026, we are still only in 2023!”

“I believe that if the three governments put it together and we push each other, we will be there!”

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