East Africa, take notes — AFCON 2027 is around the corner!

DAR ES SALAAM: AS the 2026 FIFA World Cup rolls across the United States, Canada and Mexico, most of us will be doing what football people do best: arguing loudly, predicting bravely, forgiving nobody and suddenly discovering tactical knowledge that was not available during ‘chai ya asubuhi’.

Who will lift the trophy? Which big nation arrived with reputation and leave with excuses? Which underdog disturbs people’s betting slips? And which referee is becoming a national enemy in four countries before breakfast?

These are proper football conversations.

They belong beside the remote control, the tea flask, the pilau plate, the mishkaki smoke and that uncle who still believes his football career was destroyed by one jealous coach, one bad pitch and somehow, the government.

But beyond the goals, VAR (Video Assistant Referee) quarrels and patriotic chestbeating, another tournament is taking place quietly in the background.

It has no golden boot, no trophy parade and no musician shouting into a microphone, but for Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, it may be the real match.

The World Cup has become East Africa’s open classroom before AFCON 2027 and the teachers are not only FIFA officials.

They are airports, stadia, security teams, transport systems, hotel desks, ticket scanners, volunteers, media centres and those calm people who always know where the accreditation office is while everyone else is sweating.

One hopes that somewhere in North America, there are East African officials walking around with notebooks, charged phones and the serious faces of students who have finally realised ‘mtihani hauko mbali’.

AFCON is not ‘coming soon’; it is already standing at the gate asking for a visitor’s pass.

While ordinary fans are buying scarves, taking selfies and asking strangers to pronounce their players’ names correctly, our organisers should be studying baggage belts, shuttle buses, signage, crowd movement, fan zones, emergency exits and the speed at which one confused visitor can be redirected without becoming a diplomatic incident.

This may not sound glamorous, but tournaments are not won by glamour alone.

A football match lasts 90 minutes. The planning behind those minutes can take years, several committees, too much tea, many files and at least one person saying “tutaangalia” with the confidence of a man postponing rainfall.

The first lesson is scale. When FIFA expanded the World Cup from 32 teams to 48, many people feared the tournament would become too large, too long and too full of teams whose supporters travelled with more hope than defenders.

Yet the expansion has also given football a wider face. More nations have joined the conversation. More stories have emerged. More flags have found their way into stadiums, airports and television graphics.

For East Africa, the message is simple: size is not the enemy. Confusion is. A bigger tournament can work if the visitor feels guided from arrival to departure.

It collapses when a supporter lands in one country, plays guessing games with transport in another and discovers in the third that the person with the answers has gone for lunch and switched off both phones.

That is the real challenge awaiting Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.

Hosting football matches is only part of the job. The bigger task is making AFCON 2027 feel like one tournament, not three neighbouring events wearing the same tracksuit.

A visitor should move from Dar es Salaam to Nairobi to Kampala following one clear story, not solving a regional crossword puzzle with a tired passport.

Transport will create many memories. Nobody buys a match ticket because he is excited by shuttle-bus integration, but everybody remembers a bad journey.

A fan can forgive a goalless draw. They may even forgive a striker who sends the ball towards Mbagala instead of the top corner.

But they will not easily forgive missing a flight, losing luggage or spending four hours after a match wondering whether their hotel has quietly relocated to Kisarawe.

North America’s test is coordination across huge distances and different systems.

East Africa’s test will be similar, only with our own seasoning: border crossings, city traffic, airport pressure, VIP movement, boda-boda mathematics, bajaji confidence and relatives calling from home to ask whether you saw them waving on television.

The second lesson is technology.

The modern supporter does not carry patience as hand luggage. Tickets are on phones, maps are on phones, payments are on phones, complaints are on phones; if the queue misbehaves, the evidence will also be on phones.

In 2027 ‘system iko chini’ must not become the unofficial tournament anthem. Luckily, East Africa is not starting from zero.

Kenya has innovation in its bloodstream. Tanzania’s mobile money revolution has changed daily life from Kariakoo to Kijitonyama and everywhere in between. Uganda is investing in digital infrastructure.

AFCON 2027 should turn these strengths into a smooth supporter experience: clear ticketing, reliable information, simple payments, realtime updates and customer care that does not behave like a locked office whose keyholder is “in a meeting”.

The third lesson is storytelling.

Every great tournament tells the world something about its hosts. The World Cup is not merely presenting matches; it is selling images of cities, cultures, efficiency, diversity and welcome.

East Africa must do the same, but in our own rhythm, our own colour and our own confidence. ‘Tusijifanye wageni nyumbani’.

When visitors arrive, they should find more than stadia and security checks.

They should meet music, food, history, beaches, wildlife, mountains, markets and that East African hospitality which can feed a stranger until he forgets the address of his hotel.

Let football bring them in; let the region give them reasons to return with families, friends and extra suitcase space for kitenge, coffee, spices and stories.

This is an advantage no consultant needs to invent. Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda already have coastline, safari, culture, cuisine, music, history and warmth that many destinations spend fortunes trying to manufacture in brochures.

The job is to package properly, coordinate it seriously and resist the temptation to leave everything until “kesho”, that flexible East African department where urgent matters go to relax.

Then comes legacy, the word every major event loves and every taxpayer should inspect carefully, preferably with reading glasses and a calculator.

A tournament is not successful simply because the opening ceremony looked expensive and fireworks frightened birds from Oysterbay to Ilala.

Success is what remains when the trophy has been lifted, television crews have gone home and the last volunteer has finally removed the accreditation badge.

AFCON 2027 should leave stronger transport links, better stadium operations, improved tourism systems, upgraded digital services, trained event professionals and deeper regional cooperation.

If it only leaves photographs of officials cutting ribbons and shaking hands near banners, basi tumefanya sherehe, not legacy.

As the World Cup moves towards its sharper stages, the drama on the pitch will naturally grow.

Tackles will become louder. Coaches will age visibly. Goalkeepers will either become national heroes or people advised to avoid busy restaurants for a few weeks.

If East Africa learns well, the greatest gift of this World Cup may not be a stunning goal, a controversial penalty or the name engraved on the trophy.

ALSO READ: When our own songs need permission from Hamburg

It may be the confidence, discipline and practical wisdom needed to deliver an AFCON that works, welcomes and leaves something useful behind after the noise has gone.

And if, somewhere in North America, an East African official is currently timing the stadium exit, photographing a signboard and quietly asking how the volunteer training programme works, let us not laugh. Let us encourage them.

Next year, when the crowds arrive here, we shall need every note in that notebook.