January 15 – The 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN) has been postponed until summer, just weeks before the tournament was due to kick off in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced.
In a statement on Tuesday, CAF acknowledged the “good progress” in the three host countries “with the construction and upgrading of stadiums, training fields, hotels, hospitals and other infrastructure and facilities” but wrote that experts advised “more time is required” to ensure the infrastructure and facilities for the finals are “at the levels necessary”.
The tournament was scheduled to take place February 1-28, but CAF has moved the finals to August with exact dates still to be announced. On Wednesday, the draw for the CHAN will take place as planned in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.
“I am confident that the stadiums, other infrastructure and facilities will be at the requisite Caf standards for hosting, in August 2025, a very successful CHAN,” said CAF president Patrice Motsepe.
Last December, Kenya had once again committed to co-hosting the tournament which features only home-based players following an inspection of facilities. The country was to provide two venues for the competition – the Nyayo National Stadium and Kasarani Stadium. Neither stadium meets CAF requirements. Motsepe had travelled to Kenya for a meeting with the country’s president William Ruto in a bid to speed up preparations.
Kenya has had a chequered past in staging major football finals. In 1996, the Kenyans had been due to organise the Africa Cup of Nations but were stripped of the hosting rights after the government declared the country was not ready. In 2017, Kenya also lost the right to host CHAN.
The postponement comes as a new embarrassment to African football: CAF has had to repeatedly postpone its flagship competitions and Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are to stage the Africa Cup of Nations in 2027, the first time three countries will serve as co-hosts. The CHAN is to serve as a dress rehearsal for organisers.
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