Nicholas Musonye, the Local Organising Committee chairman of the 2024 African Nations Championships (Chan), has described Nairobi’s selection to stage the final of the delayed tournament on August 30 as a big challenge and a great honour.
The veteran football administrator has asked all stakeholders, including fans, to pull out all stops to ensure the tournament, which will kick off on August 2, concludes in a memorable fashion.
Meanwhile, the Confederation of African Football (Caf) has stated that it will announce ticketing details for the competition in the next two weeks.
Chan is a biennial football tournament, which is exclusively reserved for players who are plying their trade in their respective domestic leagues.
On Thursday, Caf announced that the 55,000-seater Moi International Sports Centre (MISC) Kasarani in Nairobi will host the final match on August 30, while Tanzania’s Benjamin Mkapa Stadium (60,000-seater) in Dar es Salaam will stage the opening match on August 2. The 45,202-seater Nelson Mandela Stadium in Kampala will host the third-place play-off encounter.
“It (Nairobi’s selection to host the 2024 Chan final) is a recognition of our ability to do big things,” the former Cecafa Secretary General told Nation Sport on Friday.
“Everyone wants to watch the final, so it is a big challenge and a great honour to host the final. I want to ask Kenyans to cooperate and do everything to ensure we stage a big, memorable ceremony,” he added.
Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya addresses the media on Kenya’s preparations for 2024 African Nations Championships (Chan) in Nairobi on January 12, 2025.
Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group
With the final still over two months away, Musonye exuded confidence that Kenya will stage a spectacular event. He urged the Football Kenya Federation to ensure that Harambee Stars are well prepared for the tournament, with the aim of reaching the final.
“As Kenyans, I know we can always rise to the occasion. We have at least two months to prepare for the final. I’m sure the Kenya team will be prepared for this, as reaching the final will make the event the biggest Kenya has ever hosted since the 1987 Mandela Cup final (between Kenya’s Gor Mahia and Tunisian giants Esperance at MISC Kasarani),” he said.
With the three countries also scheduled to co-host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) final, Luxolo September, the Director of Communication at CAF Luxolo September said Nairobi’s selection to host the 2024 Chan final gives Kenya “the opportunity to show the rest of the world what they can do in 2027”.
Still undergoing renovation
In the 2024 Chan, Kenya will also host Group “A” matches featuring home team Harambee Stars, 2018 and 2020 champions Morocco, Angola, 2009 and 2016 winners the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia.
Kenya was also supposed to stage Group “D” matches, which will involve defending champions Senegal, Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and Nigeria but CAF has since moved the matches to Zanzibar after Nairobi failed to demonstrate its capacity to host two groups.
With just 41 days to go until the competition’s kick-off, Kenya has yet to make all its venues ready for the tournament. With regard to training grounds, Ulinzi Sports Complex is the only venue that is fully ready while the rest including MISC Kasarani and Nyayo National Stadium, which are the designated match venues, are still undergoing renovation.
Musonye said his team is doing everything possible to ensure the venues are ready by end of this month.
He revealed that Kenya Utalii College Sports Club has now been designated as another training ground for Chan, with its renovation expected to start soon.
The veteran football administrator further said that they are in talks with the owners of two private grounds to have them also designated as training venues.
Group “B” of the tournament has home nation Tanzania, Madagascar, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, and Central Africa Republic while Group “C” has hosts Uganda, Niger, Guinea, South Africa, and Algeria.
“We were waiting for this information (opening, final, and third-place play-off venues) to come out and this (ticketing details) is the next plan in line. In the next two weeks, I will be in Nairobi and we will announce all this information and other important details about the tournament,” said September.
