Botswana undecided over Afcon ‘problem’

Botswana says it is still undecided about whether it will proceed on its own to try and land the 2027 African Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament hosting rights, the country’s sports minister Tumiso Rakgare told Namibian Sun yesterday.This comes days after intended co-host, Namibia, withdrew from a planned joint bid, with the country&#039;s sports ministry stating it cannot afford the N$4.8 billion price tag required to develop adequate infrastructure for the continental football showpiece.The two countries were supposed to submit their joint bid ahead of next month’s deadline."We cannot conclude yet; once we convene, we will address the problem. This will be in the coming two weeks," Rakgare said during a telephonic interview.Plans fall apartNamibia had terminated the joint bid after the Namibian government failed to approve the budgeted bid cost, according to the consulting company.Namibia, which currently has no Confederation of African Football (CAF) or Fifa-approved stadiums, planned to host the matches in Oshakati, Swakopmund and Windhoek.BONA, as the joint-bid would be known, was launched around this time last year by the two neighbours.Interests expressedLast Thursday, CAF 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.Potential hostsKenya 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&#039;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 in bidding from Senegal and Burkina Faso, Morocco, Zambia,Kenya had won the hosting rights for the 1996 tournament but lost the opportunity to host it due to an inability to fulfil requirements from the continental football governing body.-Additional reporting by SuperSport

Botswana undecided over Afcon ‘problem’

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Namibian Sun 2025-08-29

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Botswana undecided over Afcon ‘problem’

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Namibian Sun 2025-08-29

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