Kenya’s Group “A” opponents in the delayed 2024 Africa Nations Championship (Chan) set for August 2 to 30 will start arriving in the country on July 22, Nicholas Musonye, the chairman of the competition’s Local Organising Committee (LOC), has said.
At the same time, Musonye revealed that tickets for the 19-team competition that Kenya will jointly host with Uganda and Tanzania will go on sale on Tuesday
Addressing the press yesterday at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi, Musonye said that CAF had informed him that the teams taking part in the tournament will start arriving in the country on July 22 and the LOC was working with the continental football governing body to plan their training schedules.
“The teams have sent their squads and the time frame for arrivals. We are now working with CAF to ensure everything runs flawlessly,” said the veteran football administrator.
Chan 2024: Security top priority, says LOC chairman Musonye
Other teams in Group “A” are 2018, 2020 champions Morocco; 2009, 2016 winners the Democratic Republic of Congo; Angola; and Zambia.
Group “B” consists of hosts Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Madagascar, Mauritania and the Central African Republic, while Group “C” has home team Uganda, Algeria, Niger, Guinea and South Africa.
Group “D” is composed of defending champions Senegal, Sudan, the Republic of Congo and Nigeria and will be based in Zanzibar.
“I’m aware of CAF’s concerns about our preparations but now that fear was cleared last week when CAF made their final inspection and told us that we can go ahead comfortably to organize this event,” said the former Cecafa Secretary General.
He thanked the government for upgrading the venues to both CAF and Fifa’s standards, noting that it has helped the country avoid losing the hosting rights, as was the case with the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals, and the 2018 Chan.
Caf 'cautiously happy' with Kenya's Chan preparations
The 55,000-seater Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani will host Group “A” matches and the final on August 30.
The 19,000-seater Nyayo Stadium will also host some group matches.
The designated training venues in Kenya are Kasarani Annex “A” and “B”, Police Sacco Stadium and Ulinzi Sports Complex.
Harambee Stars will open their campaign against DRC on August 3, before playing Angola on August 7, Morocco on August 10 and Zambia on August17.
The delay in publicising the competition, Musonye said, was occasioned by a hold-up in getting clearance and promotion materials including billboards from CAF.
“From today you will see billboards across the country, from the airport to the city centre and Kasarani,” said the LOC chairman.
He stated that the LOC’s decision to price the regular tickets at Sh200 is meant to ensure that as many Kenyans as possible turn up at the stadium to watch the matches.
Calling on Kenyans to show up in large numbers, Musonye said they were working with shuttles and traffic police to ensure smooth movement between Nyayo and Kasarani.
“This Sh200 ticket is to allow people to come in large numbers. We understand the economy is tough and we know very well that we have many matches,” said Musonye.
“The Sh200 is all across and we want these tickets to be out next week on the 15th so that Kenyans can start purchasing.
“We are appealing to the people of this country and East Africa to come and enjoy this competition. This is the only platform to show our unity of purpose as a country.”
Musonye dismissed online reports that Homeboyz Entertainment – an event management company in Nairobi – which is owned by the LOC’s Chief Executive Officer Mike Rabar has been awarded several tenders for the Chan tournament.
“That is rumour mongering. Homeboyz has nothing to do with this Chan and even the CEO who is the owner of Homeboyz has no hand in the procurement.
“It is being done by the government through the Ministry of Sports. I do not think our CEO can be that naive to put his hand in it because he knows there will be conflict of interest,” said Musonye.
“We cannot organise a tournament of this magnitude if security is not in place and the support we are receiving from the Ministry of Interior and National Administration. We have put all the top security apparatus in place to ensure our borders are secure, beside security at the venues for the competition. CAF has given up protocols for security which we have shared with the government.”
Chan is a biennial football tournament, which is exclusively reserved for players featuring in their respective domestic leagues.
The tournament was initially planned for September last year before it was postponed to February this year.
Due to inadequate preparations, CAF again deferred the event to August.
