An exterior view of the under-construction 60,000-seater Raila Odinga Talanta Stadium in Nairobi.

📋 Breaking It Down

Less than a year to the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals to be co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, CAF inspectors will next month visit the three East African countries to assess their preparations towards hosting Africa’s premier national team football tournament.

Today, it is exactly 326 days until the tournament starts across the three East African countries. On July 19, it was exactly one year to go until kick-off. The 36th edition of the continental showpiece, featuring 24 nations including the three co-hosts, will be held from June 19 to July 17, 2027.

Africa’s football governing body CAF has set a strict deadline of January 2027 for all the match venues and training grounds across the three countries to be fully operational. Following its February 2026 inspection, which revealed that none of the proposed venues in all the countries met the required standards to host the tournament, CAF outlined key targets that must be achieved ahead of next month’s inspection.

📌 What You Need to Know

They touched on venues, governance, cross-border movement, operations and finance. Yesterday, a spot check by Nation Sport at the venues earmarked for the tournament showed that Kenya was behind schedule in meeting most of the infrastructure targets. However, Local Organising Committee (LOC) chairman Nicholas Musonye insisted that the country will meet the deadlines.

“We are very much on course. By the time CAF (inspectors) come here next month, we will be in a very good position to explain ourselves,” Musonye said.

A view of a section inside the under construction Talanta Sports City Stadium in Nairobi on May 15, 2026.

The 48,000-seater Moi International Sports Centre (MISC) Kasarani and the 60,000-seater Talanta Sports City are the tournament’s match venues in Kenya. The training grounds are Ulinzi Sports Complex, Nyayo National Stadium, Police Sacco Stadium, MISC Kasarani Annex “A” and “B”, Kenya Academy of Sports “A” and “B”, Kenya Utalii Sports Ground and Talanta Sports City Annex 1, 2 and 3 and Kirigiti Stadium in Kiambu. CAF’s report on the preparedness by the co-hosts following its February 2025 inspection stated that a minimum 80 per cent physical completion must be achieved by the time that the August inspection takes place.

The Talanta Stadium in Nairobi that is under construction in this picture taken on February 8, 2026.

While the construction of Talanta Sports City crossed the 90 per cent mark in May 2026, the renovation of MISC Kasarani to international standards is behind schedule. Replacement of the playing surface is among the upgrades, which are currently underway. Although Musonye admitted that the progress of renovation work at MISC Kasarani is a concern, he exuded confidence that they will have made great strides by the time CAF inspectors arrive in the country.

📰 Source: Nation Africa