The Secretary General of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has warned the hosts of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations to ensure the successful execution of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) ahead of the major continental showpiece.
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The CHAN, set to be hosted by the East African nations of Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda, was originally scheduled for February. However, the competition was moved to August 2025 due to concerns over the readiness of the facilities.
CAF Secretary General Vernon Mosengo-Omba recently visited Kenya to assess the progress made on infrastructure. While he expressed satisfaction with the improvements, he also warned that failure to deliver a successful CHAN could cast doubt over the region’s ability to host the continent’s biggest football tournament — the Africa Cup of Nations.
“I came here in December, you remember, with the CAF President. I said to you that there was no grass on different pitches. Today, you can’t even play golf there. This shows the huge progress that has been made since December,” he stated, as per People Daily Digital.
“If you continue with this momentum, we will play here. But you have to continue the momentum that we have seen today. If you continue this, we are here in August to play,” he remarked.
“This will be the top, everybody looking up to this, the AFCON 2027 here. They are ready to come here, but if we don’t deliver properly on CHAN, people will say, ‘Well, I can’t waste my time in AFCON,’” he added.
The Congolese executive acknowledged that the overall standard of the competition needs to improve — in all aspects — especially following the success of AFCON 2023 in Ivory Coast.
“If I say that someone forgot to connect the water in the toilet, for me it’s not a good point. I cannot allow the competition to start. In the past, people would say it’s a small thing, OK, it’s good, they can play tomorrow. For us, no,” he said.
“The standard, when President Motsepe came, he put the standard of competition. You see, even the AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire, they are still talking [about] the quality of briefing, of pitches, of organisation; they were of very high standard,” he added, highlighting the stringent standards established by previous tournaments.
