Kenya, Uganda & Tanzania to jointly host AFCON 2027

Ivory Coast will host AFCON 2023

Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania will co-host the 2027 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), with Morocco hosting the 2025 competition, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) said on Wednesday.

Morocco was selected to host the AFCON in 2015 but requested that it be put on hold due to the Ebola epidemic. CAF eventually opted to revoke Morocco's hosting privileges. Morocco last held the competition in 1988.

Although Algeria's shocking last-minute pullout from the 2027 competition on Tuesday left it wide open, Morocco had been considered the hot frontrunner for organising the AFCON 2025 edition of the biggest African sporting event.

Morocco replaced Guinea, who were stripped of the right to host the AFCON last year.

"This withdrawal can be explained by a new approach from the FAF related to its strategy for developing football in Algeria," said the national federation.

The CAF executive committee then approved the Kenya-Uganda-Tanzania bid, returning the biennial competition to East Africa for the first time since Ethiopia hosted the 1976 version.

Morocco is home to multiple stadiums of the highest calibre and has successfully hosted many international and African competitions.

The Confederation of African Football will host the biannual African Association football championship for the 34th time in 2023. Ivory Coast will be the second country to host it after first doing so in 1984.

In order to avoid conflicting schedules with European club squads and events, the competition was planned to take place in the Northern Hemisphere summer for the third time starting with the 2019 event.