Uganda ready to host African Nations Championship 2024

KAMPALA - The inspection team from the Confederation of African Football (CAF), which is currently in Uganda, has said from the state of infrastructure, Uganda is ready to host the African Nations Championship (commonly abbreviated as CHAN) 2024 tournament from August 2-28, this year. 

Other partner states — Kenya and Tanzania — were also declared ready. 

This was announced by Samson Adamu, the head of the CAF delegation, during a high-level meeting with the ministers of sports in the Pamoja countries and other senior officials from Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. 

The meeting to discuss the three host countries’ preparedness for CHAN 2024 was chaired by Uganda’s First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Mrs Janet Museveni, at State House, Nakasero in Kampala on Wednesday February 26, 2025. 

It was attended by the Minister of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports from Tanzania, Prof. Palamagamba Kabudi and the principal secretary for the State Department for Sports in Kenya, Eng. Peter Tum, who represented Salim Mvurya Mgala, the Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports in Kenya. 

Others in attendance included Uganda’s Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka, sports state minister Peter Ogwang, permanent secretaries for sports, football federation presidents and representatives of the local organising committees of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. 

After the follow-up infrastructure inspection conducted by the CAF team around various facilities including Namboole, Kyambogo, FUFA Kadiba and Wankulukuku grounds, they were all declared ready with just a few recommended improvements to host the CHAN 2024. 

In her opening remarks, Mrs Museveni reiterated Uganda’s commitment to co-host both CHAN 2024 and Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2027, and noted the significant progress with regard to the rehabilitation of sports infrastructure in line with the guidance of CAF. 

Other achievements she mentioned include Cabinet’s ratification of the Host Agreements for both CHAN and AFCON and approval of the signing off of the Government Declarations and Guarantees.

The local organising committee is also already established and now a legal entity. 

“It is now my prayer that moving forward, CAF and the local organising committee will work closely to ensure that we successfully organise both the CHAN 2024 and AFCON 2027,” the First Lady said. 

The meeting to discuss the three host countries’ preparedness for CHAN 2024 was chaired by Uganda’s First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Mrs Janet Museveni, at State House, Nakasero in Kampala on Wednesday February 26, 2025. 

She also appealed to CAF PPU PHOTO to follow through with the Confirmation Agreement expeditiously so that the local organising committee can execute its duties and obligations without further delays. 

Mrs Museveni also reported that Uganda had already secured the required budgetary contribution of $13m for organising and hosting the CHAN 2024 tournament. 

In their joint statement presented by Eng. Tum, the ministers from Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania requested that the budget of $13m should cover all expenses of the host countries regarding organising the CHAN 2024. 

They said there should be a methodology to ensure that all funds are accounted for and, therefore, recommended the inclusion of accounting officers of the responsible government ministry as signatories to the bank accounts. 

However, according to CAF guidelines, only two signatories are allowed to the bank accounts – CAF and the federations. With the guidance of Attorney General Kiwanuka, it was agreed among the ministers, permanent secretaries and the CAF team that all expenditures from the $13m required from each of the three co-hosting countries will first be approved by their respective local organising committees. 

The host countries assured CAF of their unwavering commitment towards ensuring successful hosting of both CHAN and AFCON as per the guidelines and regulations put in place. 

Through the integration mechanism given by CAF, the tournament will be successful. 
Tanzania’s sports minister Prof. Kabudi said successful hosting of CHAN 2024 and AFCON 2027 will be one of the most important achievements of the East African integration. 

“Hosting of AFCON and CHAN shows the vitality of the African people in organised things which bring them together. We feel privileged and honoured that CAF has trusted these three countries to organise AFCON and CHAN and we want to make sure that we have the best tournaments ever staged on the continent,” Kabudi said. 

Kenya’s principal secretary for the State Department for Sports, Eng. Tum, assured the meeting of Kenya’s readiness on issues of infrastructure, payment of the hosting fee and all the relevant requirements given by CAF to ensure hosting a very successful tournament for CHAN 2024 in August and AFCON 2027. 

Ogwang said the CAF inspections and consequent ministers’ meeting have given a final green light in as far as CHAN 2024 is concerned. “As a country, let us now prepare to welcome the visitors,” Ogwang said.

Pamoja countries lauded

The head of the CAF delegation, Samson Adamu, congratulated the three Pamoja countries for the massive improvement in the state infrastructure readiness for the competition since the last inspection visit. 

He thanked the co-hosting countries for implementing all CAF’s recommendations. Adamu also appreciated the East African and Ugandan hospitality. 

He said CAF and Pamoja local organising committees are partners in making sure that Africa is proud for hosting this competition.

Adamu said one of the reasons why the CHAN tournament was postponed is because CAF deems it important to have the best tournament because of the commitment that Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania have. 

“We should take advantage of the time we have left and work together to make sure that the tournament will be better than it would have been in February,” he said.