AFCON 20277 min read
Pamoja means together: following AFCON 2027 across Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda
The first Africa Cup of Nations hosted by three countries. What that means in practice — flights, borders, and why most people should pick one base rather than chase the draw.
Pamoja is Swahili for together, and it is the name the Kenyan, Tanzanian and Ugandan bid went by. AFCON 2027 is the first Africa Cup of Nations hosted by three countries at once, running 19 June to 17 July 2027.
It is a genuinely unusual tournament to attend, and the thing worth understanding before you book anything is how far apart the host cities actually are.
This is not a tournament you drive around
Kenya is playing its matches in Nairobi, and only Nairobi — Eldoret and Kakamega were in early plans and were dropped. Tanzania has put forward Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Zanzibar; Uganda has Kampala, Hoima and Lira.
Those are separate countries with real distances between them. Nairobi to Kampala is a little over an hour in the air, and the better part of a day by road. Nairobi to Dar es Salaam is about an hour and a half flying. Zanzibar is a further hop beyond Dar. People look at a map of East Africa and underestimate it; the region is larger than Western Europe.
- Nairobi → Kampala — roughly 1h15 flying into Entebbe, which is then about 40km from Kampala itself.
- Nairobi → Dar es Salaam — roughly 1h30 flying.
- Nairobi → Zanzibar — roughly 1h30, sometimes via Dar.
All three routes are well served and competitively priced. Flying between host countries for a single match is entirely possible. Doing it repeatedly, during a tournament, with every other supporter trying the same thing, is a different proposition.
The borders are the part to check, carefully
We are not going to tell you what visa you need. Immigration rules change without notice, they differ by passport, and a tournament hosted by three countries is exactly the situation where special arrangements get announced — and then amended. Anything we wrote here would be out of date before you read it.
Check each country’s official government portal for your own passport, and watch for tournament-specific announcements from CAF and the three governments closer to the time. Kenya’s own entry requirements are at etakenya.go.ke — and be wary of the lookalike sites that rank alongside it and charge to fill in the same form. Our piece on Kenyan entry requirements has more on that.
The practical advice that will not go out of date: whatever you need, apply earlier than feels necessary, and apply for each country separately unless an official source tells you otherwise.
Our honest advice: pick a base
Most people following this tournament will have a better time choosing one city, settling into it, and treating matches elsewhere as occasional trips rather than a touring itinerary.
Four weeks of hotels in three countries is expensive, exhausting and involves a great deal of packing. Four weeks in one apartment, with a kitchen and a laundry and somewhere to leave your things, with two or three flights out and back, is cheaper and considerably more pleasant. You also get to know somewhere, which is most of the point of going.
Why Nairobi makes sense as that base
We are obviously not neutral. But the case is a real one:
- It is the regional air hub. Jomo Kenyatta International has more connections to more of the continent and the world than anywhere else in East Africa. Getting to Kampala, Dar or Zanzibar from here is straightforward; getting to Nairobi from Lira is not.
- Three of the tournament’s grounds are in one city. Nairobi hosts at Nyayo National Stadium, the new Raila Odinga International Stadium and Moi International Sports Centre at Kasarani.
- There is a great deal to do between matches. A national park with lions fifteen minutes from the centre, the Rift Valley within two hours, and the coast a short flight away. We have written about filling the days between fixtures.
If you are coming for the whole month
Book before the draw rather than after — once supporters know where their group is playing, the rooms near the grounds go. Ask what happens if your dates move, because with a tournament they will. And if you are going to be away for a few nights watching a match in Kampala, say so; it is easier for everyone to plan around than to discover.
Where to stay in Nairobi specifically, and how far the grounds really are from each other, is in our guide to the Kenyan half of the tournament.