Joyce Namugambe
FUFA President Hon. Magogo Moses Hassim has on Wednesday 25 July 2023 has delivered the latest update in regard to the East Africa “PAMOJA” bid for 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.
The President revealed the progress so far and the upcoming events in a press briefing held at FUFA Complex.
when CAF opened up the call for expression of interest to host AFCON 2027, the federation of Uganda Kenya and Tanzania under the EAST AFRICA PAMOJA BID AFCON 2027, agreed to discuss with their governments and they gave them a go ahead and the 3 countries submitted their bid.
After FUFA having enough meetings and discussions with the president of Uganda his excellence Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, he agreed through the minister of education and sports Janet Kataka Museveni and the president signed guarantees that approved their request and they submitted their bid.
As a result, the CAF inspectors from Switzerland have today 25 July 2023, started inspecting the three countries starting from Kenya, Uganda and to end with Tanzania to confirm if these countries meet the AFCON requirements for their bid to be approved.
During the inspection, the inspectors are sampling the quality of the hospitals in these countries and for Uganda, they will sample Mulago hospital, since it has all requirements needed to host the AFCON, and among the many hotels submitted in their proposal, FUFA is looking at sampling Sheraton and Serena hotels on behalf of all Ugandan hotels since there is not enough time to sample the list of hotels submitted.
The inspectors are as well to sample airports in the country which can accommodate guests to and from the country, and Uganda submitted Entebbe international airport to be used as a sample. Among the playgrounds, FUFA chose Kampala international school playground in Bukoto for trainings, they chose a private owned play ground in Galuga, St. Marys kitende playground, Muteesa 2 playround, Nakivubo stadium and Mandela National Stadium for football.
The FUFA president Moses Magogo noted that the inspection samples are not the final areas for the AFCON preparations but they are provided to show the inspectors that the country qualifies to host the AFCON in 2027.
He adds that FUFA is yet to get into discussion with the government of Uganda to see if it can support the private owned investments to get to the required AFCON standards for the good of the country.
According to Magogo, most of the countries which have submitted their bids such as Botswana, Nigeria, Senegal, Algeria and others have already hosted the AFCON therefore, Uganda, Kenya or Tanzania have high chances of winning the bid because according to the AFCON constitution, those countries which have never hosted AFCON are the ones being looked at to be given the chance.
Magogo has appealed to all sports loving Ugandans to join FUFA to win the bid as it is for the good of all Ugandans, since it will lead to different levels of developments just as the development CHOGAM led to the country.
