The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has confirmed that the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) will be held from 19 June to 18 July, marking the first time three East African nations—Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania—will jointly host the continent’s premier football tournament.
The announcement follows Morocco’s successful staging of the 2025 edition and comes as part of AFCON’s 70th anniversary celebrations. The 2027 tournament will also be the final edition held in an odd-numbered year, as CAF has confirmed the competition will shift to a four-year cycle starting in 2028.
Uganda’s Local Organising Committee (LOC) has approved the dates, with the country set to host matches at two main venues: Mandela National Stadium in Namboole and the newly built Hoima City Stadium. Kenya will stage games in Nairobi, Eldoret, and Kakamega, while Tanzania will use facilities in Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Dodoma, and Zanzibar.
The scheduling follows a critical compliance milestone for Kenya, which had faced a 30 March deadline to pay a Ksh3.9 billion ($30 million) hosting fee. With Uganda and Tanzania having already met their financial obligations, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Salim Mvurya, confirmed the government had fulfilled all financial and institutional requirements, including reconstituting the LOC to strengthen organisational capacity.
In a move to facilitate smooth tournament operations, Uganda has pledged to waive visa fees for all visitors for a three-month period—one month before the tournament begins and one month after the final match.
The qualifiers for the 2027 edition are already underway, with Burundi, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Eritrea advancing to the next round following matches played during the March FIFA international break.
The East African co-hosting arrangement follows the successful staging of the 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN) in February 2025, when the same three countries jointly hosted the tournament. Morocco claimed the CHAN title for the third time in six years after defeating Madagascar 3-2 in the final.
The 2027 AFCON will be the first major tournament in the CECAFA region since Ethiopia hosted the competition in 1976, marking a significant return of Africa’s flagship football event to East Africa after nearly five decades.
