A FIFA World Cup like no other, it is a descriptor that keeps being thrown around quadrennially. And so it was after Ferran Torres’ extra-time winner secured Spain its second title at Argentina’s expense on Sunday. Far from being hyperbolical, this was a World Cup like no other. And it is not just because the phrase “hydration break” entered everyday parlance. No. While that in and of itself tore the lid off a Pandora’s box, there were other firsts that became hot topics around the water cooler.Never before had world football’s showpiece tournament been hosted by three countries—across 11 US cities, three in Mexico, and two in Canada—let alone contested by 48 teams. Yet here we are. Spain has its second star 104 matches later, and stock is being taken. For the East African nations of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, the stocktake takes on added presence. Next year, barring a last-minute change of plan, the trio will stage African football’s showpiece event—the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals.
A cursory glance shows that this is an assignment that the three co-hosts are making heavy weather of. Lamentably so. Infrastructural demands are weighing heavily on the minds of political leaders in the respective countries, with Peter Ogwang, Uganda’s Sports minister, recently indicating that Kampala has fought such upheavals, but with mixed success. Authorities in Dodoma and Nairobi have not emerged smelling of roses either, with infrastructure reports cards just as grim. If not worse.
White elephant projects
Not so long ago, the three countries demonstrated they were capable of warmth when the mood took them. Amidst much fanfare, they put on a spectacle while co-hosting what ultimately turned out to be the last edition of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) in 2025. The tournament offered a compelling insight into how sports (mostly football) governing bodies now much prefer to spread the risk when it comes to staging showpiece events.
This is an approach that was no doubt borne out of the travails that assailed Greece after it staged the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. The Greek taxpayer ended up taking on countless white elephant projects that hit the country where it hurts most. Since then, the common knowledge has been that going it alone ends, as it so often does, on a puzzling note. Gabon learnt this the hard way when it ended up with white elephant projects of its own, including a stadium right in the middle of an inaccessible rainforest in Oyem. This came after staging the 2017 AFCON finals.
Yet there is another side to the coin as demonstrably seen at the recently-concluded World Cup. There was no dearth of geopolitical stories at the 2026 World Cup. It all started before a ball was kicked when Somalian referee Omar Artan was denied entry into the U.S. to call matches. Then, after countless kickoffs, at ungodly hours in East Africa, President Trump raised eyebrows when, by his own admission, he managed to get FIFA to rescind the suspension of American star striker Folarin Balogun before a knockout encounter against Belgium. By the time a White House FIFA task force gave Argentina the green light to display their Falklands banner after they riled England by doing just that following the climax of an exhaustingly tight semi-final, fans had seen it all.
Travelling blues
The aforesaid controversies managed to rake column inches in broadsheet newspapers. And with good reason. Shorn of any coverage were stories about the convoluted nature of covering a tournament staged across multiple jurisdictions. One Nigerian journalist told Vox Populi that such an undertaking is in many respects a logistical nightmare. Travelling across the multiple host cities makes such an unyielding master.
There were no unified permits at the 2026 World Cup, with everyone—teams inclusive—needing separate, standard visas or travel documents for each of the three host countries. This was pretty much the status quo when Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda hosted the 2025 CHAN. One visiting journalist at the time told Vox Populi that it was akin to having a millstone hanging around the neck. Since then Kampala has held out special visa waivers and unified entry permits intended to ease travel restrictions.
With the U.S. Department of State opting to place Uganda on its highest “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory list, it is highly probable that the aforementioned intervention could turn out to be a fragile intermediate success. There are growing fears that the country could be avoided like the plague at the time when it needs to be fast-tracked into a very rarefied space as a truly welcoming destination. And with Kenyans expected to go to the polls next year, the possibility of civic unrest logging in the back of the mind of travellers as yet another red flag cannot be ruled out entirely.
Work to be done
Then there are concerns about the ability of Uganda’s hospitality sector to step up to the plate during what for all intents and purposes is a coming out party. Whereas the country’s Tourism Marketing Masterplan counts 3,800 hotels mostly in quiet corners and sleepy squares, VVIP rooms are few and far between. The fact that such rooms are at a premium cannot be understated not least because they are the fodder for hosting cities during sporting events like the AFCON finals. This soft underbelly was made all the more apparent by the grading and classification report the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) released for accommodation facilities in the country in December of 2024. The report indicated that only the Speke Resort and Conference Centre qualified to be rated as a five-star hotel. It also pointed out that eight accommodation facilities received a four-star rating, 11 were rated three stars, and 30 received a two-star rating.
Yet all of this should not take the wind out of the sails of co-hosting sporting extravaganzas like the AFCON and World Cup finals. While a joint bid from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe is only taking baby steps ahead of the 2028 AFCON finals, the picture of the 2030 World Cup finals has already been cast in stone. The risk will be spread amongst Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. The sporting world has already been well and truly bitten by the co-hosting bug.<