‘Why AFCON Pamoja bid is possible’ – Uganda’s football boss confident in East African chances
By Joel Sang, September 15, 2023Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) president Moses Magogo is confident that Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania will win the rights to host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations finals.
The East African countries have presented their formal bid to CAF to host the biennial continental finals, and despite the doubts that surround the bid, Magogo is hopeful.
Magogo confident
“I believe we will still have enough time. The day it is decided that East Africa should or will host the AFCON, there is still a lot of time, and it will be different.
“The other bidders are talking about constructing stadiums; we are saying we have the infrastructure; we only need to stick to timelines.
“As we talk about tenders and rehabilitations, these are things that can be done. We have the goodwill of the president of Uganda, we have the goodwill of the president of Kenya, and we have the goodwill of the president of Tanzania,” Magogo said during the Africa Football Business Summit in Nairobi, as quoted by a local publication.
Goodwill
Kenya’s president, William Ruto, has been at the forefront of pushing the bid, and the Ugandan football chief said success will be easily realised if East African heads of state show goodwill.
“If you have the goodwill of all the three presidents who are talking at their level, for me, the day we get the bid and the bid is awarded on plan, they are not awarded on actuals because even the other bidders do not have the stadiums.
“I believe that if the three governments put it together and we push each other, we will be there!” he continued.
He acknowledged that Algeria, the 2019 AFCON winners, are the real big opponent to the Pamoja bid.
“Apart from Algeria, which has already hosted a number of these competitions, they will either host the 2025 competition or Morocco, and Africa should be moving these competitions to different parts of Africa.
“I want to rule out Algeria on the basis that they are either going to have it or their neighbors will have it (in 2025),” Magogo stated.
Standard infrastructure
Although the lack of standard stadiums has been pointed out as a major weakness in regard to the joint bid, Magogo said that the issue can be sorted out once the hosting rights are secured.
“We therefore should not worry about the current status. I believe rehabilitation will be done on time. We will not reconstruct Nyayo, and we will not reconstruct Kasarani.
“All we need is to put it right, and we are supposed to be ready by January 2026; we are still only in 2023,” the Ugandan Member of Parliament added.