Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda will cohost the next AFCON in 2027, with subsequent tournaments in 2028, 2031 and 2033.
Published On 30 Oct 202630 Oct 2026
The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) will be held every two years, not four as was planned, governing body the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced after reversing an earlier decision.
AFCON has traditionally been staged every two years, but CAF’s surprise decision last December to move to a four-year cycle was not widely welcomed.
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“The Confederation of African Football (CAF) Executive Committee today unanimously decided that the CAF Africa Cup of Nations will return to taking place every Two Years,” CAF said in a statement.
Under the previous plan, AFCON would have moved to a four-year cycle, with the proposed CAF Nations League becoming the continent’s biennial competition.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe said at a strategy conference in Cape Verde earlier this month that the organisation was considering returning AFCON to a two-year cycle.
CAF said the Nations League would take years to generate enough revenue to sustain African football.
“The decision by the CAF Executive Committee to reinstate the organization of the AFCON every two years aims to advance, protect and promote the interests of African football and the 54 CAF Member Associations, as well as those of African players playing for clubs outside the continent,” Motsepe said in a statement.
Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda will cohost the next edition in 2027, with subsequent tournaments to be held in 2028, 2031 and 2033.
There will be no AFCON in 2030, with CAF maintaining its tradition of not staging the tournament in a World Cup year.
“This process will require several weeks, with the CAS Award expected at the end of November 2026,” the court said in a statement on Monday.
Senegal are contesting the decision by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to declare Morocco champions, despite Senegal beating the hosts 1-0 after extra time in January’s final in Rabat. Their arguments, plus those of Morocco and CAF, were heard by CAS in Lausanne on October 8.
At the time, CAS said it expected a decision within days but has now decided to issue a complete ruling, including legal grounds, known as a CAS Award.
Senegal walked off the pitch for 14 minutes after a penalty was awarded against them late in regulation time, with several players returning to the dressing room in protest before they resumed play.
Morocco missed the spot kick, sending the match into extra time, where Senegal scored the winner to secure victory.
However, they were stripped of the title two months later after CAF’s Appeal Board ruled that Senegal had forfeited the match by walking off the pitch, overturning the result and awarding a 3-0 victory to Morocco.
Senegal quickly followed with an appeal to CAS, which was lodged on March 25 but heard some six months later. The basis of their arguments is that the referee’s decision is final and he allowed the match to be completed.
“I know it’s a long wait for the fans, a few months after the final between Senegal and Morocco,” CAS Director General Matthieu Reeb said outside the hearing earlier this month.
“The facts are set, are clear and the discussions will be on some procedural issues and legal aspects,” he added.
The CAS panel is presided over by French sports law expert Gerald Simon, with the assistance of Italian international law professor Luigi Fumagalli and Hamburg-based lawyer and professor of law at the University of Zurich, Ulrich Haas.
CAS decisions are called awards and hold the same value as a national court judgement. CAS awards may be enforced by sports federations or state courts, depending on the circumstances.
Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) hearing set to begin after Senegal stripped of Africa Cup of Nations title by CAF.
Published On 7 Oct 20267 Oct 2026
The long-running saga over the winner of this year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title will move closer to resolution on Thursday when Senegal’s appeal, after being stripped of the title, is heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.
Senegal are contesting the Confederation of African Football’s decision to declare Morocco champions, despite Senegal beating the hosts 1-0 after extra time in January’s final in Rabat.
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Senegal walked off the pitch for 14 minutes after a penalty was awarded against them late in regulation time, with several players returning to the dressing room in protest before they resumed play.
Morocco failed to convert the spot kick, sending the match into extra time, where Senegal scored the winner to secure victory.
However, they were stripped of the title two months later after CAF’s Appeal Board ruled that Senegal had forfeited the match by walking off the pitch, overturning the result and awarding a 3-0 victory to Morocco.
Senegal quickly followed with an appeal to CAS, which was lodged on March 25 but is only being heard on Thursday. Senegal want to be reinstated as winners, and a panel will listen to arguments from Senegal, Morocco and CAF.
“After the hearing, the panel will start its deliberations. At this stage, CAS cannot state when a final decision will be rendered but it will not be on the date of the hearing,” CAS said in a statement.
Three-man CAS panel to hear Senegal and CAF arguments
The panel will be presided over by French civil rights expert Gerald Simon, with assistance from Italian international law professor Luigi Fumagalli and Hamburg-based lawyer and professor of law at the University of Zurich, Ulrich Haas.
They are likely to hear arguments from Senegal that the Laws of the Game determine the referee’s decisions on incidents of play are final and cannot be challenged after the fact.
Also important is an interpretation of the articles of the tournament regulations on which CAF’s Appeals Board ruled in Morocco’s favour, which state that “if, for any reason whatsoever, a team refuses to play or leaves the ground before the regular end of the match without the authorisation of the referee, it shall be considered the loser and shall be eliminated for good from the current competition.”
Senegal’s lawyers are expected to argue that the articles must be interpreted strictly and that a temporary departure from the field cannot be equated with abandoning the match, while Morocco are expected to argue for an opposing interpretation, according to which a team that leaves the field without the referee’s authorisation must be considered the loser and definitively eliminated from the competition, even if its departure was not permanent.
The hearing takes place behind closed doors.
Qualification for AFCON 2027 has already begun, with Senegal drawing the opening game of Patrick Vieira’s tenure as coach with Mozambique on September 25, before winning 1-0 in Ethiopia on September 29.
Morocco have won both of their opening games, beating Gabon and Lesotho.
Nairobi, Kenya – With less than nine months until the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations kicks off, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are entering the most demanding phase of preparations: completing and testing the stadiums, training grounds and supporting infrastructure needed to host the tournament.
The tournament, scheduled for June 19 to July 17, 2027, will be the first Africa Cup of Nations jointly hosted by three countries and the competition’s return to East Africa since Ethiopia staged the finals in 1976.
A Confederation of African Football (CAF) delegation spent eight days inspecting facilities across the three host countries earlier this month, assessing stadiums, training grounds, hotels, airports and other infrastructure. The delegation included officials responsible for competitions, safety and security, transport, media, television and logistics.
Kenya: Talanta takes centre stage
In Kenya, the biggest project is the newly built Talanta Sports International Stadium in Nairobi.
The 60,000-capacity stadium is intended to be the country’s flagship AFCON venue and was inspected by CAF earlier this month. During a subsequent visit, CAF President Patrice Motsepe said he was impressed by the progress at Talanta. He also visited Kasarani Stadium, where work remains to be completed.
But Kenya’s preparations extend well beyond its new flagship stadium.
CAF’s inspection also covered training venues, hotels, airport infrastructure and other sites supporting the Nairobi tournament operation.
Nicholus Musonye, chairman of Kenya’s AFCON 2027 Local Organising Committee, told Al Jazeera that the country was addressing the outstanding requirements.
“I want to assure Africa, and I want to assure the world, that Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, we are ready to host AFCON,” Musonye said.
He said work on Kasarani’s pitch should be completed by the end of October, with the venue planned to be ready for handover in December.
But concerns remain about some of the facilities that will support the tournament.
Kelvin Kimaru, a Kenyan football fan, told Al Jazeera that training grounds remained a concern.
“We are not yet ready because the training grounds for the coming teams are not yet ready,” Kimaru said.
Moses Kamalik, an executive member of the Boxing Federation of Kenya, said other venues also needed work, including Nyayo Stadium and Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret.
The challenge for Kenya is broader than completing Talanta; it needs a network of match venues, training grounds and supporting facilities capable of operating together when teams and supporters arrive.
Tanzania: the race extends beyond stadiums
Tanzania is also entering the final stretch, with preparations covering stadiums, training grounds and the infrastructure connecting them.
Neema Msitha, chief executive of the country’s AFCON 2027 Local Organising Committee, told Al Jazeera that the country’s stadiums were more than 80 percent complete on average and expected to be ready for handover to CAF in January.
“All these stadiums are almost ready. If you grade them on average, all of them are almost above 80 percent,” Msitha said.
Training facilities are being developed alongside the main venues, with five facilities being prepared in each host location. Msitha said they were about 75 percent complete.
The three East African hosts are moving from construction to testing and operational preparations as the 2027 tournament approaches [Hafsa Abdiwahab Sheikh/Al Jazeera]
The Tanzanian government has also applied pressure to accelerate the work.
In August, Prime Minister Mwigulu Nchemba ordered work on AFCON training grounds to speed up, saying the facilities needed to be completed on time and meet CAF standards. He issued the directive after inspecting the Farasi and Leaders Club training grounds in Dar-es-Salaam.
Road infrastructure is also part of the preparations. In June, Works Minister Abdallah Ulega ordered contractors working on roads linked to the tournament in Arusha to operate around the clock to meet deadlines and international standards.
Msitha pointed to regional airlines, Air Tanzania and ferry services between Dar-es-Salaam and Zanzibar as part of the transport arrangements being developed for teams, officials and supporters.
CAF’s September inspection included Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar-es-Salaam and other key facilities in Tanzania as the governing body continued to assess preparations across the three hosts.
Uganda faces its own deadlines
Uganda is working towards the same year-end push.
Patrick Ogwel, a CAF infrastructure monitoring officer, told Al Jazeera that infrastructure development was expected to be ready by December 31.
Hoima City Stadium has been completed and commissioned, he said, while Akii-Bua Olympic Stadium in Lira is due to be completed and commissioned by December.
Uganda’s Local Organising Committee has identified Akii-Bua, Hoima City Stadium and Mandela National Stadium as its three main stadiums. It expects 10 of the country’s 12 training facilities to be ready by the end of the year.
The organising committee said after CAF’s latest inspection that all three stadiums remained on course for completion by the end of December, while some training facilities were planned to be completed in January 2027.
But the deadlines are not without pressure.
On September 24, Uganda’s State Minister for Sports Peter Ogwang directed the Uganda People’s Defence Forces to accelerate work on several AFCON training facilities, citing concerns about the pace of construction at sites including Pece Stadium in Gulu, Lira and Gulu University.
After its September inspection, the CAF delegation also briefed President Yoweri Museveni, with challenges outside Kampala among the issues raised during the assessment.
From construction to tournament readiness
The coming months will test whether the three hosts can turn construction progress into a functioning tournament operation.
AFCON requires stadiums and training grounds that can handle teams and spectators while meeting requirements for broadcasting, media, security, transport, hospitality and match operations.
A completed stadium is only one part of the equation.
CAF inspections are now focusing on whether venues and supporting facilities can meet the operational demands of the continental tournament [Hafsa Abdiwahab Sheikh/Al Jazeera]
Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have already gained experience from jointly hosting the 2024 African Nations Championship, which allowed the three countries to work together on a major continental tournament. CAF has also involved representatives from the three local organising committees in an observer mission at the recent AFCON in Morocco.
But AFCON will be a larger undertaking, with 24 national teams competing across the three countries for almost a month.
The coming months will determine whether the work under way across the three countries can be completed, verified and brought into operation before teams and supporters begin arriving.
For supporters in East Africa, the tournament represents more than a test of stadiums and infrastructure. It is also a chance to experience Africa’s biggest national-team competition on home soil.
Gilbert Okeya, a Kenyan football fan and Football Kenya Federation referee, told Al Jazeera:
“We are happy because we are going to host, and we are going to have an opportunity to have live matches for AFCON in our country.”
