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FUFA president Eng Moses Magogo and sports Minister Peter Ogwang, receive the CAF flag
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The 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) climaxed on Sunday, with Senegal winning their second title after beating hosts Morocco 1–0 in a controversy-filled final in Rabat. At the official closing and awarding ceremony, preFUFA president Eng Moses Magogo and sports Minister Peter Ogwang, receive the CAF flag sided over by FIFA President Gianni Infantino in the company of CAF President Patrice Motsepe and other CAF officials, the next championship hosts were handed the CAF flag. These were the FA presidents of Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, with Uganda’s Moses Magogo accompanied by Sports Minister Peter Ogwang.
FIFA president and CAF boss hand the CAF flag to the next AFCON 2027 hosts Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania
CAF chief Motsepe acknowledged that Morocco’s hosting of the Cup of Nations had raised the bar for the tournament but dismissed doubts about East Africa being ready to host the 2027 edition.
“This has been the single most successful AFCON in the history of the competition—the quality of the football has been world-class, as has the quality of the stadiums and the infrastructure,” Motsepe told reporters in Rabat on the eve of Sunday’s AFCON final between the hosts and Senegal.
The North African country is also gearing up to co-host the 2030 World Cup with Spain and Portugal and could be a candidate to stage the planned 2028 edition of AFCON as a means of preparing for the global event.
FUFA president Eng Moses Magogo and Tanzania and Kenya FA officials receive the CAF flag
Motsepe said he has had many countries expressing interest in hosting the 2028 edition but insisted that the 2027 Cup of Nations will go ahead in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda as planned.
“Part of being a leader is to deal with difficult and unpleasant decisions that we have to take. I have a duty to develop football all over Africa, and I can’t have football only in those countries with the best infrastructure. I am confident that the AFCON in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania will be enormously successful. We are not going to take the competition away from these countries,” he said.
The three countries jointly hosted last year’s African Nations Championship, a tournament for national teams using only locally based players, even though the event was postponed from the beginning of the year to August to allow more time for work on facilities.
Motsepe announced that the confirmation of AFCON in the East African states was not a case of caving in to pressure from leading European clubs or world governing body FIFA.
“We have to free ourselves as Africans and not think that whenever we take a decision it is because FIFA says this or Europe says this. There are times when you have to make concessions,” he said.
It will be the first AFCON to take place in the region since Ethiopia hosted in 1976 and comes just before the tournament switches to being held every four years, having usually been staged every two years since the first edition in 1957.
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