NAIROBI, Kenya, August 20, 2026 – Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya says the ultimate target for Harambee Stars is to win next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) on home soil.
The CS says the government will spare no coin to prepare the team to ensure they go all the way in the continental tournament.
“We’ve already asked the football technical team to give us a roadmap on how they can lift the cup as well as what we need to put in to make sure that we win,” Mvurya said.
The CS concurred that it would make little sense for Kenya to co-host the tourney, only to suffer an early exit.
He said the roadmap mooted would help rally support from the private sector to source funds for the team’s preparations.
“We’ll be rallying all Kenyans, both in the public and the private sector, to support our team and to profile our team before Afcon, during and after. Once ready, we will share this plan with Kenyans,” the CS said.
Kenya will co-host the 24-team tourney with neighbours Uganda and Tanzania in July next year, hoping to make it out of the group stages for the first time in their history.
Their maiden Afcon appearance was in 1972 in Cameroon, the first of six, which also include 1988 (Morocco), 1990 (Algeria), 1992 (Senegal), 2004 (Tunisia) and 2019 (Egypt).
Should they do the impossible by winning Afcon, Benni McCarthy’s side would be following in the footsteps of Sudan and South Africa, who hosted the tourney in 1970 and 1996 respectively, and went on to win it — despite coming in as underdogs.
Kenya has already co-hosted the Africa Nations Championships (CHAN) in August last year, during which — against all odds — romped to the quarters of the competition before eventually losing to Madagascar via post-match penalties.
