AFCON 2027: Who will win rights to host opening match, tournament final?

As East Africa prepares to host AFCON in 2027, we continue to look back at past AFCONs to see what Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are up against in terms of hosting and participating as hosts. This is the first time three countries are jointly hosting AFCON.

In 1996, when Kenya pulled out of hosting AFCON, the tournament was expanded to 16 teams. This changed the format from four groups of three teams to four teams in each group. South Africa hosted the tournament in four stadiums while Kenya struggled to finish a second one. The drama for this tournament was Nigeria pulling out in the last minute due to a political tiff between military leader Sani Abacha and South Africa.