Kenya Gets June 19 Start Date as AFCON 2027 Build-Up Officially Begins

The dates are locked. AFCON 2027 opens on June 19 next year and closes with the final on July 17. For Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda — the three co-hosts — the countdown is real now.

CAF confirmed the schedule after the FIFA Council signed off in Vancouver. The qualifier draw is set for May 19, with matches across three windows: September-October 2026, November 2026, and March 2027. Forty-eight teams compete, split into 12 groups of four.

For Kenya, this is the biggest football moment in half a century. The country hasn’t hosted a continental showpiece since — never at this scale. Talanta Stadium in Nairobi is still under construction. The pressure to be ready is enormous.

Which host stages the final, and which gets the opening match, is still to be decided by CAF. Both matter enormously in terms of prestige and revenue.

June 19, 2027. Kenya’s date with history.