Kenya’s stadia revamp ends 30-year drought
By Vincent Voiyoh, July 14, 2025Kenya’s sporting fortunes are set for a historic turnaround as the country readies world-class stadiums to host next month’s African Nations Championship (CHAN).
This, according to football chief Nicholas Musonye, is an ambitious facelift that will outlive the continental showpiece and leave a lasting legacy ahead of AFCON 2027.
For Kenya, welcoming the guests next month will come with a basket full of goodies.
For the past two years, the country has been a laughing stock in the region for lacking certified facilities to stage matches for the national team Harambee Stars, especially for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Harambee Stars – the pride of the nation – were turned into sporting nomads. They had to seek refuge elsewhere to host their visitors in the quest for football glory. Malawi, Uganda and South Africa hosted Kenya’s home games last year.
Former Harambee Stars coach Engin Firat frequently lamented the lack of home support as the Stars played away in important matches, such as the game against African champions Ivory Coast and Burundi for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers that were staged at the Bingu Stadium in Lilongwe, Malawi.
It was quite a colossal problem for football enthusiasts, which birthed scepticism when Kenya was placing a bid to host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.
One year later, the narrative has changed completely. Kenya now has top-notch facilities to host the Africa Nations Championship and other crucial matches.
This alone puts to a halt a season of despair for fans and the team to play in front of home support after massive renovation works on Kenya’s sports ‘cathedrals’ – Kasarani Stadium and Nyayo Stadium – plus polished training grounds, creating a new tide in Kenya’s sporting landscape.
There is hope that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) will vet the venues and grade them as Category Four or Three, respectively, after the CHAN competition to enable them to stage qualification games for the buzzing home boys.
Musonye, who is Kenya’s CHAN Local Organising Committee (LOC) chairperson and long-serving football administrator, believes the government has done a commendable job in upgrading the needed infrastructure, which he says will be a living legacy after the two continental competitions – CHAN and AFCON 2027.
Fiesta’s upsides
“When you host a tournament of this nature, the first thing you do is build your infrastructure beyond the competition, beyond football (CHAN and AFCON). The facilities that the country has renovated will be a legacy left behind. Nyayo Stadium can host any match easily. Kasarani can host any competition. Now we have Talanta Sports City Stadium, which is first-class and coming up nicely. This is part of the benefits of hosting a tournament of such magnitude,” Musonye said.
There were worries that the ghosts of 1996 and 2018 would come back to haunt Kenya after aborted missions to stage AFCON and CHAN, respectively.
The last time the country captured such media frenzy was 37 years ago when hosting the 1987 edition of the All Africa Games at the then newly built Moi Sports Centre, Kasarani Stadium.
Musonye reveals there were similar fears of failure, but they had to work extremely hard to overcome the trepidation of non-delivery of facilities.
For Musonye, the government of Kenya has been on top of the game as far as renovation of stadiums is concerned, despite the earlier challenges.
“Now the government has done it, and we appreciate the efforts and the amount of money invested in the upgrade of the facilities to ensure this competition does not fail.
“As the LOC, we had the concerns that it should not fail to happen the way it failed twice previously. This time, it is going to happen.”
There has been great significance in the refurbishment at Kasarani Stadium and Nyayo Stadium, and other training facilities such as the Ulinzi Sports Complex, Police Sacco Stadium, Kasarani Annex One and Two and now Utalii Stadium.
Kasarani, which has not been used since August 2023, is poised to host the CHAN 2024 final as announced by CAF and will undergo minor upgrades to cater for AFCON 2027 needs, since major works have already been done ahead of the CHAN extravaganza.
Talanta Sports City Stadium at Jamhuri, Nairobi, is coming up nicely and on schedule for its December 2025 completion date.
The 60,000-seater facility is expected to be a game changer as a modern sporting arena not only in the region but on the continent.
Many view the eye-catching stadium as one of the key venues of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, which could be given the mandate to host the opening ceremony or the final for the Pamoja East Africa AFCON.
The expansive works will definitely halt the troubles of Harambee Stars and will position Kenya as a premier sporting destination due to the improved infrastructure.
“If you go to Nyayo and Kasarani, you will see for yourself. These are changed venues, and you will not believe them. Teams that will come to play in Kenya will be surprised that they are playing on venues that were not there before, but just renovations that have been done. Even the training grounds that we have are super classy. Virtually all the venues have been uplifted to new standards, and this is good for us as a country,” Musonye stated.
“For example, the training grounds of Kasarani Annex One and Annex Two that is an incredible development. Even league matches will be played there, leave alone the main stadium. Annex One and Two are stadiums on their own due to the facelift done on them. Police Sacco Stadium in South C is very impressive, and we want to make it a 5,000-seater capacity stadium after CHAN. We have changed it completely with new changing rooms, playing surface, floodlights as well as the Ulinzi Sports Complex,” he outlined.