Nigeria Loses AFCON 2027 Hosting Rights To Kenya, Uganda And Tanzania… 

Nigeria on Wednesday lost out in the joint bid with Benin Republic to host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, with the joint bid by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania clinching the hosting rights. 

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) also announced that Morocco will stage the 2025 edition.

Morocco last hosted the AFCON in 1988 and was chosen in 2015 but asked for the tournament to be postponed because of the Ebola virus, although CAF later decided to strip the north African nation of the hosting rights.

While Morocco were hot favourites to host the 2025 edition of the premier African sport event, the shock last-minute withdrawal of Algeria from the 2027 race on Tuesday threw it wide open.

The Kenya-Uganda-Tanzania bid then got the nod from the CAF executive committee, taking the biennial tournament back to east Africa for the first time since Ethiopia staged the 1976 finals.

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

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

Morocco boast many world-class stadiums and have successfully hosted numerous African and world football tournaments.

But Kenya and Tanzania have only one international-standard venue each and Uganda none, which forced their national team to play 2023 Cup of Nations qualifiers at neutral venues.

However, several months later, CAF secretary general Veron Mosengo-Omba said regional rotation may not always be possible.

“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.

Ivory Coast will host the 2023 Cup of Nations, which has been put back to January and February 2024 due to the rainy season in west Africa.

Stars who will have to leave their clubs for the African tournament include Mohamed Salah of Liverpool, Andre Onana of Manchester United and Victor Osimhen of Napoli.