Caf rejects five stadiums in Kenya

Only the Safaricom Stadium Kasarani meets the required standards to stage the 2018 Africa Nations Championship (Chan) matches in the country, the continental football governing body, Caf has said.

Confederation of African Football (Caf) has rejected five other venues among them Nyayo Stadium, Moi Stadium Kisumu, Mombasa County Stadium as well as the Kenyatta Stadium and Kinoru Stadium in Machakos and Meru counties as not up to the required standards.

According to Caf secretary general Hicham El Amrani, the five venues need a lot of work to meet the standards of hosting international matches with only 18 months to the bi-annual competition that will be hosted by Kenya.

“Kenya needs four standard venues to host Chan and after our inspection it is only Kasarani that meets the requirements. The rest of the venues are not in good condition and need much work if they are to host the matches,” El Amrani told journalists at a press conference in Nairobi on Thursday.

Caf delegation led vice president Kabele Camara, who doubles up as the chairman of the Chan tournament’s organising committee alongside El Amrani have been on a four-day tour of various proposed venues of the competition set for February 2018.

Kenya was handed the hosting rights for the competition three years ago. Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario, alongside former FKF President Sam Nyamweya and Cecafa Secretary General Nicholas Musonye, received the hosting flag during the closing ceremony for the 2016 edition that was held in Rwanda in January.

The Africa Nations Championship is a bi-annual football competition consisting 16 national teams whose players feature in their home country leagues.

The Caf official cited top-notch security, four dressing rooms, doping room, good drainage system and quality playing surface are some of the requirements needed in all of the four hosting venues.

“This was our first inspection and we shall be back in June to conduct another one and we have received assurances from the local federation and the national government that the venues will be ready,” he added.

El Amrani, who was due to leave the country on Thursday night, further revealed that he had met Deputy President William Ruto who reaffirmed the government’s commitment to fully supporting the event. Caf has set a deadline of September 2017 for Kenya to have completed all its preparations.