Kenya fails inspections; stripped of CHAN 2018 hosting rights

ACCRA, Sept. 24 – Yesterday, a Confederation of African Football (CAF) executive committee meeting stripped Kenya the right to host the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN) as an overwhelming majority of the members present voted in favor of withdrawing the rights.

According to a statement on the governing body’s website: “… it was decided to withdraw the hosting rights of the competition from Kenya in the light of accumulated delays from reports of the various inspection missions conducted in the country, the last of which took place from 11 to 17 September 2017.”

CHAN is a 16-team tournament that seeks to promote local-based players, and is scheduled to take place between 12 January and 4 February 2018.

However, A Caf inspection team visited Kenya from 11 to 17 September and found only one of four venues ready to stage the event. Moreover, some Caf officials expressed concern over the current political situation that has seen annulled presidential elections set to be re-run next month.

It is a case of de ja vu, Kenyan football fans will be disappointed as just over 20 years ago, it lost the right to stage the Africa Cup of Nations to South Africa in 1996.

Nevertheless, the CAF Acting General Secretary has been instructed to immediately open a bidding process for a new host.

“The deadline for receipt of applications is seven days from Sunday, 24 September 2017. The identity of the bidding countries will be disclosed within a maximum 15 days of the opening of the bidding process.” – NDN Staffer