Uganda preps for historic Chan tourney on course

As with every first-time tournament, there is no shortage of loose ends to tie ahead of the start of the Championship of Africa Nations (Chan) due to get underway on August 2.

But by and large, East Africa and in a position where Chan is good to go. Lest we forget, the Chan tournament is the sister competition of the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon). The difference is that while Afcon is competed amongst the best national teams on the continent, Chan only permits home-based players.

Uganda will stage the third-place playoff match after Tanzania were awarded the opening match of the tournament. Kenya are due to host the final. Uganda will host Group C in Kampala. Niger, Guinea, South Africa and Algeria are the other teams in the group. Work at Mandela National stadium, Namboole is all but complete with the facility having undergone a three-year refurbishment by the UPDF Engineering Brigade.

The Local Organising Committee and Caf officials have also been impressed with the upgrades that have been done at the proposed training facilities of Wankulukuku, Kyambogo, KISU and Kadiba. Over the last fortnight, final preparatory meetings have been held in Nairobi to iron out procedural hitches in alignment with the Caf rules and regulations of hosting the tripartite tournament.

The 2024 Chan competition will make history as the first-ever Caf tournament to be staged in three countries. Likewise, the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, which has been labelled as PAMOJA, will be the first of its kind.

Previous Afcons have been hosted by one or two countries. Uganda will receive thousands of football tourists next month who will make the trip to Entebbe and Kampala either as fans, Caf delegates or officials of the continental showpiece. The national team, the Cranes, have a proud record of qualifying for nearly every Chan edition that has been played.

However, the team have never made it to knock-out stage. By hosting it, coach Paul Put will be hoping that the team can make the most of having a vociferous backing of 40,000 fans at Namboole to end the knockout jinx.

Double champions Vipers dominate the squad with Yunus Sentamu, Milton Karisa, Allan Okello, Abdul Karim Watambala, Marvin Young-man, Hilary Mukundane, Rogers Torach and Denis Kiggundu, all summoned in the provisional squad.

Sentamu has earned a recall to the national team, having been ignored for sometime now and it remains to be seen if he will be included in the final selection. He was part of Uganda’s team to the Chan 2014 edition and scored a brace when Cranes prevailed 2-1 over Burkina Faso.

The hosting of Chan by Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania will go a long way in assessing the preparedness of the East African region for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, which will be a much bigger project and is expected to attract tens of thousands of football tourists to the three countries.

Uganda have built a brand-new stadium in Hoima while Kenya erected the 60,000 Talanta facility, which is also new. Kenya, meanwhile, will host Group A which has Morocco, Angola, DRC and Zambia while Tanzania are in Group B with Madagascar, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Central African Republic. Zanzibar have Group D of Senegal, Congo Brazzaville, Sudan and Nigeria.