Kenya has embarked on a late rush to salvage its rights to host the CHAN 2018 tournament, as a defining Confederation of African Football (CAF) inspection nears.
CAF has previously warned that the East African country risks losing the rights to host the event due to slow preparations.
An inspection team is scheduled to arrive in Kenya on September 7 to make an assessment before giving a final verdict on the country’s preparedness to host CHAN 2018.
According to CAF, only one stadium is ready to host the event.
“Our delegation is talking to the (Kenyan) government as there will be presidential elections in August. They asked us to give them until the end of August when they will give us their action plan.
“After that, we will sit down to take a decision whether we will have it in Kenya or not,” CAF President Ahmad Ahmad said last July.
Local media report that Kenyan authorities have now tendered the construction and rehabilitation works for the other stadia that are expected to be used.
“Finally, we have some works going on after the contractors were identified. We are late, but hopefully they can work hard to ensure the tournament is not taken away. It is a fact that CAF always has an alternative host,” Standard quotes Football Kenya Federation president Nick Mwendwa to say.
The Ministry of Sports in a tweet confirmed that work had begun on the country’s second stadium, where some matches are expected to be played.
Ongoing 'Bulldozers' excavation of grounds at Nyayo Stadium is proof of Kenya's big march towards staging #ChanKenya2018 with 5 months to go pic.twitter.com/DGvKXNLrZT
— Ministry Of Youth Affairs, The Arts & Sports (@moyasa_ke) August 22, 2017
Should Kenya be stripped of the rights to host the January event, it will also have to face serious sanctions, including hefty fines as well as lengthy bans from competing in the competition.
