Echoes of the Harambee Stars performance during the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) dominated the groundbreaking ceremony for the proposed Talanta Sports City at Jamhuri Grounds, Nairobi on Friday. Kenya, alongside neighbors Uganda and Tanzania, under the EA Pamoja tagline, will host the biennial continental tournament in 2027 and the proposed 60,000 capacity facility will be Kenya’s anchor stadium.AFCON 2027: President Ruto kicks off construction of Talanta Sports CitySpeaking during the ceremony presided over by the Head of State, President William Ruto, the Cabinet Secretary for Sports Hon Ababu Namwamba said that they will see into it that Harambee Stars does not exit the tournament at the preliminary level.“We don’t want Harambee Stars to be eliminated in the group stage after all the work we’re going to do in building this facility,” Ababu passionately stated. “We will make sure that they don’t just participate, but compete with the best from the continent in this stadium – Talanta Sports City,” he added.Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Nick Mwendwa equally pledged that the senior men’s national team will be ready to fly the Kenyan flag high in the championship.Nairobi County sets aside Ksh 800 million for refurbishment of City StadiumHe cited the team’s impressive show in two friendlies against Qatar and Russia last year in which the team won and drew respectively as an indicator of their potential.“Some people did not believe it and it brought me a lot of problems, but I want to assure you that the team will be ready.”Ruto assured that the Kasarani Stadium, also under renovation as part of the AFCON 2027 package, will be ready by the end of this year. “They told me that the timeline has been revised and the work will be finished by the end of the year.”The Head of State promised that his government will build a new stadium in Mombasa. “There was intense debate as to whether this facility should be built in Mombasa, but I want to say that the government will build another stadium in Mombasa once suitable land has been identified,” he said. ##NAJAVA_MECA_7918272##
