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Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Nick Mwendwa (pictured) is confident that East Africa’s Pamoja Bid to co-host the 2027 Confederation of African Football (CAF) Africa Cup of Nations will be successful and leave several benefits in the region after it’s hosting.

Mwendwa who spoke to People Daily yesterday after officially placing the bid to CAF on Wednesday, said all indications showed that the Pamoja bid was tipped to win the hosting rights since the region has never played host to the continental show piece.

The other countries bidding for the tournament are Egypt, Algeria and Botswana.

“We are the favourites to win this bid because Afcon has been held in North Africa, South Africa, Central Africa and West Africa but has never been held in East Africa. This is our time and we are going to prepare and deliver one of the most memorable tournaments ever,” Mwendwa said.

He added: “Botswana were planning to put in a joint bid with Namibia, but Namibia has pulled out making it a tall order for Botswana to put up a strong bid because they may not be able to avail the required six stadiums that meet CAF and Fifa international standards. Egypt hosted the 2019 Afcon and Algeria hosted the Africa Nations Championships (CHAN) this year, leaving a joint bid by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania as the strongest.”

Mwendwa feels that the country have learned from previous mistakes and that with the backing of the head of state and total support of the government, everything will align itself towards the tournament.

“We have learned our mistakes from the 1996 event which we were awarded the hosting rights but failed to honour it because of lack of preparedness before it was awarded to South Africa who whose national team went ahead to win it, then the 2018 CHAN competition which was awarded to us and we were still not able to prepare well because of lack of government support. Now you have all seen the front role President William Ruto has taken in supporting the event and he has instructed the Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba to ensure the facilities and infrastructre are ready in good time and work has already started,” he said.

He added: “ In our bid we have picked Nyayo Stadium, Kasarani Stadium and Kipchoge Keino Stadium for their proximity to an international airport and Five-Star Hotels. There is a lot of work to be done though, which should be completed in less than two years. Tanzania has identified the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam, one in Zanzibar and another one in Arusha, while Uganda have identified Nambole Stadium which has been under going renovation and one other one that is set to be put up.”

Mwendwa said Nyayo Stadium needs proper lighting and back up lighting, ticketing system for tickets with a bar code, new playing surface, roof and a new playing surface.