AFCON 2027 Official on Why Talanta Stadium is the Best in Africa - ‘Better than What We Had in Morocco’

With the Talanta Stadium nearing completion, the facility has already been declared the best-ever on the continent ahead of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations which it will host.

Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are racing against time to have stadiums ready for AFCON 2027 and in Nairobi, the ultra-modern 60,000-seater Talanta Stadium will be the main venue, being supplemented by the Kasarani Stadium.

The stadium, which is over 85 per cent complete, has three outdoor training pitches, luxury skyboxes, and integrated rail links to ease fan transportation while there are plans to build a 300-room four-star hotel and a mall that will occupy 30,000 square metres.

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Talanta Stadium, located in Nairobi’s Jamhuri, will also have seven modern changing rooms, VIP lounges, fully equipped media centres and VAR booths integrated with goal-line technology among other things.

Kenya hopes the facility will give fans a different feel and match the standards of Morocco, who staged what has been termed as the most well-organised AFCON 2025, with their main venue being the iconic Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, which hosted the opening and final matches.

In this regard, Kenya’s AFCON 2027 Local Organising Committee chairman Nicholas Musonye feels what is coming up in Nairobi will dwarf what was witnessed in Morocco as Talanta Stadium has no equals in Africa.

“The kind of stuff the government of Kenya is putting up is a marvelous stuff in the name of a stadium,” Musonye said on Sporty FM.

“It is something that Africans will relish to come again to say we want to go and play in Kenya. Because it is one of the best venues to organise rugby and football in Africa.”

Musonye believes Kenya has outdone itself on Talanta Stadium and would even like it if the country was to be given hosting rights for both the opening and final matches of AFCON 2027.

“I was in Morocco [and] our Talanta is far more advanced, modern and very specious compared to what we saw in Morocco,” he added. “Don’t be cheated by the TV, what we have is the best in Africa.”

“I want Kenyans to be proud of this. We have a good stadium that is coming up and we shall be ready to host AFCON. We are saying that we will be ready to host the opening and closing [matches] if we are given that opportunity,” he further stated.

Musonye has also dismissed doubts over whether East Africa will be ready to stage a successful tournament, pointing to the well-organised 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN 2024) as enough proof that the region will excel.

“People were pessimistic that we are not able to host CHAN and were referring back to what happened in 1996 and 2018 but I assured Kenyans and East Africa that Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will host CHAN,” he said, referring to Kenya’s failed attempts to host AFCON 1996 and CHAN 2018 which were taken away due to an inability to have facilities ready.

“I assure you today that we are going to have the best AFCON in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.”

CAF president Patrice Motsepe confirmed that AFCON 2027 will be played between June and July next year.