Nyayo finally handed over to LOC as 2024 CHAN nears kick off

With less than two weeks to the 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN), the government officially handed over the refurbished Nyayo Stadium to the Local Organising Committee (LOC) on Wednesday.

This comes barely a fortnight after the refurbished Kasarani Stadium was handed over to the Nicholas Musonye-led committee in readiness for the 19-team tournament involving local-based players. The tournament to be co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will kick off on August 2.

On Wednesday, two training facilities, Ulinzi Sports Complex and Police Sacco Stadium, were also handed over to the LOC in an event that was presided over by Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya and his Defence counterpart, Soipan Tuya.

And with changing rooms, crowd control systems, access points, lighting, greening of the pitch, water connectivity, terraces, media booths, and VIP rooms having been upgraded, Nyayo, which has been under renovation for years, is now ready for the continental showpiece.

The facility will host five Group A matches and one Group C fixture. They are Morocco v Angola (Aug 3), DRC v Zambia (Aug 7), Zambia v Angola (Aug 10), Morocco v Zambia (Aug 14), DRC v Morocco (Aug 17) and Algeria v Niger (Aug 18). Harambee Stars will play all their Group A encounters at Kasarani Stadium.

“This symbolic and strategic milestone signals our nation’s readiness as we enter the final stretch of preparations for CHAN. Ministry of Sports and Ministry of Defence, together with other government agencies and LOC, have perfectly partnered to ensure we are ready for the tournament,” said Mvurya.

“We attempted to host 1996 Afcon and CHAN 2018; it didn’t happen, but it will be historic in August.”

Defence CS Soipan Tuya said: “This is a momentous occasion for Kenyan sports. The Ministry of Defence has overseen the implementation of these facilities, and we urge our fans not to vandalise them. In the same spirit, we expect this inter-ministerial collaboration to go beyond CHAN and Afcon.”

The ceremony was also graced by Sports Principal Secretary Elijah Mwangi, Defence PS Patrick Mariru, Parliamentary Committee for Sports and Culture chairperson Dan Wanyama, Sports Kenya CEO Gabriel Komora, and Football Kenya Federation CEO Harold Ndege, among other top government officials.