The minister of sports and youth in Botswana issued a statement, on Wednesday to say that Namibia had terminated the joint bid after the Namibian government failed to approve the budgeted bid cost according to the consulting company.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) had opened the bidding process for the 2027 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) hosting rights. CAF last Thursday sent a notice to the member associations to express their interest in hosting Afcon 2027, including the process that will be followed in the selection of the host country or countries.
Though the continental football governing body failed to reveal the deadline date, it indicated that numerous countries are interested in hosting the prestigious competition.
“A decision was also taken by CAF to open the bid for hosting the Africa Cup of Nations 2027 because of the requests by numerous CAF member associations and their governments to host the Afcon competition,” a statement from CAF read.
The new hosts of the tournament will be known before September and announced on an occasion that will also announce the Afcon 2025 hosts.
Contenders
Kenya is one of the countries considering putting in a joint bid to host the continental football tournament in 2027 in partnership with the East African community. The government sanctioned the plan with the ultimate goal of qualifying for the men’s World Cup for the first time in 2030.
The potential co-hosts alongside Kenya for the 24-team tournament would be neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania. There was also interest to bid from Senegal and Burkina Faso, Morocco and Zambia. Kenya had won the hosting rights for the 1996 tournament but lost the opportunity to host it due to being unable to fulfil requirements from the continental football governing body.
