Benni McCarthy Given AFCON 2027 Target for Harambee Stars

With Kenya looking to co-host a memorable 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, focus is not just on the facilities but also success on the pitch.

AFCON 2027 will be staged in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania between June and July next year and all the three countries are trying to get all necessary infrastructure in place.

However, what will draw supporters to the stadiums and on TV are the games and the performance of host nations will be crucial to how well fans attend games.

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Over the years, empty stands have been witnessed during AFCON tournaments when host nations are either not playing or when they have been knocked out early and this is something Kenya’s AFCON 2027 Local Organising Committee chairman Nicholas Musonye is keen to avoid.

“We will discuss with the Football Kenya Federation president on how the team will be prepared. As the LOC, we are concerned about the success of Harambee Stars,” Musonye said on Sporty FM.

“AFCON is big, and we want our team to prepare well. We want the government to support our national team preparations so that we have the best team to contest and be in contention for winning, not just participating.”

Musonye wants early and proper preparations for Benni McCarthy’s team while he hopes the players will be highly motivated like was the case at the 2024 African Nations Championships (CHAN 2024) when the players were rewarded Ksh1 million for each win and Ksh500,000 for a draw by President William Ruto.

The token played a major part as Kenya topped a tough group that had eventual winners Morocco, DR Congo, Angola and Zambia before falling at the quarter-final.

“During CHAN, we reached the quarter-finals, which was okay, but now we want to do better,” added Musonye, who wants Kenya to reach at least the semi-finals. “If the team stretches all the way to the semi-finals, it will make this competition very exciting.”

“Our target is to reach the semi-finals in the Africa Cup of Nations, and from there, we can plan how to reach the final. A semi-final place would stretch the competition to a level where everyone would be happy about it,” added Musonye who thinks such a run would eliminate fan apathy among Kenyans.

Reaching the semi-finals will, however, be a big task for Harambee Stars who have never gone past the group stages in their previous six AFCON appearances.

Musonye’s target does not align with McCarthy as he has made the Round of 16 his main aim but is pinning his hopes on a kind group stage draw.

“I am praying that we don’t get a ‘Group of Death’ because that would really kill our chances. If you are in a group with Morocco, Ivory Coast or Senegal, then ‘Group of Death’ because you know for a fact you don’t have that kind of quality and prowess," McCarthy told Creamer Media TV last week.

“But if we are in a modest group, we can have a fighting chance and that is the first goal that we want to achieve, get out of the group and have the same impact we had when we played in the CHAN competition.”