HAYATOU IN TOWN: CAF President is scheduled to hold meetings with FKF, Deputy President William Ruto

Hayatou

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Isa Hayatou was scheduled to arrive in Nairobi last night as the count-down begins towards the 2018 Africa Nations Championships (CHAN).

Kenya has been awarded the right to host the continental show-piece and needs to be ready by September next year.

The visit by CAF President is the second such visit but the first by the continental body’s top hierarchy who are keen to see Kenya host the event.

The first visit was made possible by CAF Vice President Kabele Camara and Secretary General Hicham El Amrani.

While on his visit, Hayatou is scheduled to hold a meeting with Football Kenya Federation (FKF) President Nick Mwendwa. He will then meet Deputy President William Ruto before embarking on an inspection tour of Kasarani and Nyayo Stadia.

During the first visit, the CAF delegation said there was a lot of infrastructure work to be done by Kenya ahead of the 2018 Africa Nations Championships (CHAN).

CAF Secretary General Hicham Al Amrani said the country must have in place at least four stadia that can host the championships and pointed out that so far only two - Kasarani and Nyayo Stadium - are anywhere near the required standards.

Al Amrani said then: ”During our tour of the country’s stadia, we have discovered that Kenya is lagging behind. To host such a tournament you need at least four stadia with each having four changing rooms. We have looked at what is available and only Nyayo Stadium and Kasarani have the minimum requirements though some work still needs to be done on them. As for other venues, they are far off and a lot of work needs to carried out to bring them up to standard.”

The CAF team visited Kisumu, Mombasa, Machakos and Meru. The CAF official challenged the county and national governments to work faster to ensure that the infrastructure is in place.

“We are not talking about building a 50,000-seater stadium. It can even be a 10,000-seater facility but has to have the required amenities. We do not consider CHAN to be a second rate tournament. It is just as important as all our other competitions and we therefore take it as seriously,” he said then.

Al Amrani said they did not inspect the country’s hotels and other infrastructure as he pointed out that Kenya is well-endowed in those aspects. “Kenya is well known for its world-class hotels, roads and hospitals and so we did not have a look at them at this time. This we will do in our second visit,” he revealed.

He further said he was happy with the assurances given by the Deputy President in regards to supporting the tournament.

“We understand that to pull off such a tournament, it cannot be done by FKF alone and that is why we met the Deputy President."